Learning in the Afterlife
by Jimba11
Summary: Who says we stop learning when we die? Ichigo dies young, and passes on to the Soul Society, where he learns a great many things, from fighting hollows and other villains, to friendship and even love. Romance undecided, but it will be there. Rating may change in the future.
1. A New World

Welcome to my first fan fiction ever. I thank you for reading this. So this will be quite long, ambitious for the first story, I know, but I am certain this will come to an end. There will be romance eventually, but I haven't decided who it will be, or how it will work, but it will be there.

This will be about an AU where Ichigo dies in the past alone, well before the start of the canon story. We will be going through a few time skips, so I hope you all don't mind. Other than that, thank you again, and reviews would be welcome.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach, or anything affiliated with it, only the story written here is mine.

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Pain. Intense, mind numbing pain. Then nothing. That was all that the young boy remembered. That, and seeing a man in black pajamas with a sword attack something that he couldn't turn his head to see.

The boy lay on the ground, in his blood, motionless, except for his brown eyes following the "man in pajamas" as he moved in and out of his field of vision, doing whatever it was he was doing.

For a while, that was all he could do, just lay on the ground and hope the man in black would stay where he could see him. Then a very large, hamster like creature moved into his field of vision. The hamster thing turned his head towards the older man, giving Ichigo a quick glance at his face, or rather his mask. He didn't get a good look at it, but the sight of its mask's creepy smile terrified him, causing the boy to make the first sound since he had fallen to the ground.

The man in black heard the frightened shriek and moved in front of the boy to protect him from the giant masked hamster. The creature then disappeared into the darkness of the rain in the night. The man turned around as the young boy's eyes closed, and a second one came out of him with a chain connected to his chest. The boy was an average height for his young age, had fair skin, and bright orange hair, and a very confused expression. The man in black understood his confusion, it unfortunately wasn't the first time he had seen it.

"You are going to be ok now, kid," he said as he moved in front of the boy, preparing to send him to the next life. "You do not need to be afraid of what comes next, young one."

"Next? Where am I going? Who are you? Can I touch your sword? What was that hairy thing? How come you are wearing your pajamas outside?" The little orange haired kid rambled off the questions rapid fire, unaware of what had happened to him.

The robed man couldn't help but chuckle at the attitude of the kid. He sighed soon afterwards; he wished it hadn't come to this.

"Listen kid, you got a name?" he asked.

"Yeah, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Good, that is a good strong name. Those with Ichi in their name are often strong and talented. I hope that proves true where you are going."

"Where is that?"

"A place for people who have died" the man said solemnly.

Ichigo gasped, then looked down at his broken body, to the chain in his chest.

"I am dead? What about the one who was with me, I think it was a lady," the little boy asked, tears brimming in his eyes, though the older man couldn't tell if it was from his death, or the person who was with him.

"The woman who was with you survived, she couldn't get to you before that monster did, much like I couldn't, and then I protected her from the Hollow."

"Oh, that is good I guess. I don't remember her much, but I think she was important to me, so thank you mister pajamas," Ichigo said, with a slight smile, though he didn't know what the man was talking about.

"Look kid they aren't… you know what, it isn't important. What is important is that you have somewhere to go."

"For dead people?"

"Yes, for dead people."

"What is it like?"

"Someplace I hope that you find some friends and some safety. I can only hope it is a better place, and if not, one that you make better. Just know that you should look for someone to help explain your next world to new. Think of it as a new adventure for you to do with your friends that you make there."

Ending with that, the man flipped his katana around so the hilt was facing Ichigo, and tapped him on the head with the bottom of the katana.

"What was that for?" Ichigo complained, rubbing his forehead where the hilt of the sword made contact with his face. Then a bright blue light suddenly surrounded him, blocking everything out of his vision. Not only that, he couldn't seem to speak, or make any noise at all.

Then, just as quickly as it came, the light disappeared, leaving Ichigo in a new area. The village he opened his eyes to was run down, nothing like where he was before. The place was dirty, very dirty, and the buildings were in varying states of fallen apart, from completely fallen apart to help together by small pieces of wood and metal, barely holding up against the wind.

Looking around, he saw different groups of people, doing different thing. One man was trying to sell pitchers of water to the others. Ichigo saw a group of adults standing around talking. Then he saw a small group of kids just sitting there, doing nothing. Surprisingly, or at least to Ichigo, the adults were ignoring the kids, and some of them were not moving. He didn't understand what was going on, shouldn't the adults be helping the kids?

"Excuse me?" Ichigo asked as he walked up to the adults. "Don't those kids need help?"

"Why should we help them? There isn't enough water for everyone, why waste it on them, they haven't moved since they arrived. Leave us alone and find your own water brat." The adult turned away from Ichigo, his piece finished.

Ichigo scowled, and walked off, towards the man selling water.

"Excuse me sir, can I have some water?" Ichigo tried to be as polite as possible to the older man with graying hair.

"Of course young man, as long as you can pay for it"

"But I don't have any money"

The man scowled, his persona changed completely as he all but yelled at Ichigo, "Then get lost, this isn't a charity!"

Shocked, Ichigo backed off and ran away from the graying man as quickly as his feet would carry him. He ended up in an ally some distance away from the water stall. He was trying to understand this land for the dead he was in. he now knew he was alone in this new world, and that he shouldn't trust the adults here, since they wouldn't help those that needed it. He also felt that he could only look out for himself, since no one else would.

"I will survive, and when I do, I will leave here, and return when I can make it better!" Ichigo declared to anyone who would listen, and then wiped his eyes of tears, and began to prepare for the next day as he laid down to spend his first night in the Soul Society.

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About one thousand words for the first chapter, which isn't too bad, I didn't want to draw things out. I don't know when the updates are going to happen, the next one should be soon, hopefully by the end of the week, if not then, the weekend. Familiar faces appear next time. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this and will continue to read.

-Jimba

PS- If you haven't read it already, read Captain Hair's Death is only the Beginning, you should, because it is good. It starts off similar, but I promise they wont be the same.


	2. To Surviving Alone

Bam, second chapter hot off the presses, or keyboard, or whatever. Anyway this one was interesting to write, a little difficult near the end with all of the talking. I hope that I don't confuse anyone there. Also, thanks to those who have read this far, I must say I am surprised that anyone read this, not that I am complaining. I am still working on a few things for this, but I am happy with this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it too.

Oh, and I should mention that Ichigo is about ten when he dies, so that is what he looks like, I realized I never said it before, oops.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

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**The Next Day**

Ichigo woke up early as the sun's rays filled the ally he slept in with light. The new world that he found himself in appeared to not be the dream he was hoping it was. Feeling a little thirsty and hungry, he decided he would look around his surroundings so he knew where some things were, and then he would try to figure out what others were doing to survive, and try to do his best to copy them.

Setting off, he noticed that the further from where he arrived from, the worse the building appeared, to the point that the outskirts of the town were more rubble than they were suitable places to live, with dead looking trees scattered about. He continued on, trying his best to memorize the areas he walked through. It didn't help that all of it looked the same to him.

Thinking it was best to continue on and try to find a better place to sleep than an ally, he walked on. The tasked proved to be difficult, as others already took the places that he could safely stay in, and no one was willing to let him in. He continued his search for another hour, and found nothing worthy of a permanent place to stay, so he figured he would sleep wherever he could at the moment, provided it was hidden and protected by the elements, and wouldn't fall on him.

As he headed back to the center of the town, he began his second objective of searching for other kids his age, and seeing how they survived. Much like the previous task, this was difficult, since he had no real way of knowing who was doing well or not, he figured he would just observe how people tried to get by in the run down town.

One of the first things he noticed was that everyone wanted to get water. The man who scolded him yesterday at the water stall was trying to get people to buy his wares. There were adults moving around with jugs of the stuff, doing their best to keep it to themselves as the moved about. Then he noticed that despite moving around for several hours, he didn't feel any more thirsty or hungry than when he woke up, which was good because he found neither water nor food in his walk around the district.

He realized he hadn't actually seen any food what so ever. Not in the outskirts, not in the center of the town near the grouchy waterman, and not in the hands of anyone, adult or kid. He thought that was weird, everyone got hungry, didn't they, he knew he was a little famished, so surely others must be too.

He continued to observe for the rest of the day, and not much that he found was that helpful. He did notice some kid with red hair sneaking away from the adults with one of their water jugs, but he decided that the red headed kid deserved it, those adults were mean, and sense they didn't notice, they didn't really need the water anyway, and their reactions when they did realize they were missing some water got him to laugh as the scrambled around looking for their misplaced water, and made him feel a little better.

Leaving the town center back to the ally he first spent the night, Ichigo reviewed what he had learned so far. First, there were no real houses or places that people lived, everybody just seemed to sleep where it was safe, or wherever they fell. Second, water was very important, and food seemed to not exist, or he just never saw any. Lastly was that his hunger and thirst seemed to very slowly grow, considering he was only slightly more thirsty than when he woke up. Sighing as he closed his eyes, he planned to copy that kid he saw earlier, and steal some water. Part of him didn't want to, since he remembered being told by someone that stealing is wrong, but the other part wanted to survive. Knowing that he would have to steal eventually, Ichigo prepared himself as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

**One Week Later**

As Ichigo soon found out, stealing was not as easy as that kid in the market had made it look like. It took him two days before he was successful in his theft, and his failure taught him something. He had to move quickly if he was caught, because the adults would hurt him. He also learned that there were other kids that would try to steal from him, they were usually older looking kids, and often in groups, so after he gave away his first stolen jug of water that a group of four older kids, he knew he would have to fight others to keep what he had gotten.

Ichigo only stole from the adults though, never any kid, whether he could didn't matter. Adults seemed to have all of the water, and they never shared, so he took it upon himself to relieve them of some of their excess water and gave some of it away. Then he learned that doing that attracted attention, and attention like that was never good. His most recent fight had proved that.

His morning was going well, he had gotten another jug of water from a distracted adult, and ran off before the man even noticed he was there. After that he hid for a while before taking a quick drink for himself, and headed off to find someone that needed help. It didn't take long, there was a kid who looked younger than he did, looking like a six year old, laying propped up on a building. As he walked up though, some teenagers surrounded him, and demanded he give them the water.

"Listen you little brat, give us the water, and we will leave you alone. We know you have been giving it away to little kids like him, so you must have more. Give us that, and we will leave you alone, or you don't, and we will take it from you. I suggest you just hand it over," the apparent leader of the group demanded.

"No, go find your own, I got this water myself, and I can do whatever I want with it," Ichigo responded while slowly backing up and placing the water on the ground.

"That's fine, I was hoping to hurt you anyway, your stupid hair bothers me. Let's get him!" The boy yelled, and the other three teens move towards Ichigo.

Fortunately for Ichigo, he knew how to fight, and fight he did. To him it wasn't important that he couldn't remember where he learned it from, to him it was just an instinct.

Punching the stomach of the first teen he backed away from the second one as he swiped at him. Ducking under the blow, he tried to hit the second teen in the jaw, only to be stopped by the third one, who grabbed his wrist and hit him right in the chin. Stumbling back, he barely avoided a second blow to his head from the second teen. Ducking again, Ichigo grabbed the arm of the teen and pulled, throwing the older bow of balance. As teen number two stumbled away into a wall and fell to the ground, Ichigo spun around to face number three, who turned out to be right in front of him, with another fist heading towards him.

Ichigo saw stars as the fist connected, throwing him onto his back. The teen advanced, and got ready to hit him again, as Ichigo kicked him in the groin. The boy let out a high-pitched scream and crumpled to the ground clutching his goods.

Unfortunately Ichigo had forgotten about both the first teen that attacked him, and the leader, at least until the first one grabbed him.

"I got 'em!" the teen yelled victoriously.

"Good, now hold him there while I teach him a lesson," the leader of the group said, brandishing a short stick. Raising it above his head, he brought it down on Ichigo's shoulder, and then he swung it like a bat into is stomach four times.

After he was let go, Ichigo fell to the ground; he tried to get up, only for the leader to hit him on the back with the stick one more time.

"That'll teach you to mess with us, you little brat. Thanks for the water though," the kid said as he walked away laughing, along with his group of friends, Ichigo's water in hand.

It took him some time to get up off the ground and dust himself off. Rubbing the tears out of his eyes as he limped towards the kid that he was going to help, to see if he could do anything other than give him water. Upon arriving at the kid, he noticed he was not moving, not even breathing.

It was the first time Ichigo found a dead kid. He lost his water to someone he could not have even helped in the first place.

Crying for the first time since he had arrived, Ichigo broke down. For five minutes he cried in front of that dead, unknown kid. He cried because of the area he was in, he cried for the dead kid, he cried for his lost water, he cried because he had to steal, and he cried because he was alone. Every reason he could cry for, Ichigo did.

After he stopped crying, he moved the kid into a dark ally, said a short prayer, and then left to find a place for himself to sleep. Finding another ally, he lay down, and vowed to survive at all costs, even if it meant leaving others to their fates. Finally, he drifted off to a restless slumber.

**One Month Later**

It had been a little over a month since Ichigo had gotten to the Soul Society. In that time he had learned where exactly he was. The overall place was the Soul Society, though to him society was a bit much, no one here did anything together. Then, there was the more specific area, the Rukongai, the 320 districts that surround the center of the Soul Society, the Seireitei. Of course this could just be a story to him, he had seen nothing to prove the existence of a center from where he was, but he learned the name regardless. Lastly he learned the district he was in, Inuzuri, district 78 of the southern quadrant. He was a bit surprised that this area wasn't the last district, considering how bad things were here.

Still, he was surviving, albeit alone, but he was alive. He was getting very good at stealing water from the adults, able to sneak away with a jug without being noticed just about every time. He had only been caught twice in the past two weeks, and Ichigo was more than capable of out running the slower adults. In fact, he felt like he was getting faster, though whenever he ran his fastest, he felt a little bit hungrier.

Speaking of hunger, he had happened across an apple tree two weeks ago, or rather, what looked like a tree bearing apples, he couldn't tell which, but the fruit he picked off of it was red, and sort of apple shaped. It tasted bad, but it did fill his stomach, and he didn't feel sick afterwards, so he took a second one, leaving the rest on the tree, as he had learned that hoarding things only lead to fights.

Fortunately he had picked up a stick for self-defense after his run in with the group of teens that ganged up in him a month ago. It wasn't much, but he had deterred a few fights away with it, and the ones he couldn't prevent, Ichigo was able to use the stick to extend his reach and wail on his aggressors. He didn't have much of a form to it; he just lashed out in wide swings, which proved effective for where he was, but had caused him to miss and over reach, leading to a few bruises.

Anyway, Ichigo was heading back to his apple tree, both to get an apple, and to get a new stick, his first breaking over the head of a kid about his age getting to close to him and his water. It was weird to Ichigo to be so defensive about water, especially towards other kids, but he had begun to trust no one, and avoided others as much he could. He had become a loner, and despite his success, he wasn't feeling very good about it, something was telling him to help someone, anyone, even if he would end up hurt. Ichigo had ignored the urge since he vowed to help only himself, but it was hard for him to do.

His resistance was made easier by not talking to anyone, and it had been two weeks since he had said a word. He spent much of his time thinking to himself, mostly about who to steal from, and how to do it, or if his stick was too short for him to use, or too light to keep others away. He did think about others often too, debating whether he should break his vow was often on his mind, but he remained true to it.

As he walked towards the tree, he caught a glance of someone ahead of him moving in the same direction as him. Whoever it was looked about his age, maybe a little shorter than him, and had black hair down to its shoulders. Ichigo couldn't tell its gender, as everyone his age looked the same to him, and the rags that everyone wore didn't really help him figure it out.

The little person climbed up the tree and grabbed an apple faster than Ichigo could. Sitting on the branch, the figure turned in the direction of where Ichigo was hiding, scanning the area. Ichigo found out that the kid was a girl; her face framed by her hair could only be female to him, though in hindsight, her purple garb should have given it away. The girl seemed satisfied, as she bit into the apple and grimaced slightly. She the devoured the apple quickly, and grabbed another before jumping down to the ground and running off into an ally, away from Ichigo.

Shuffling out of his hiding spot, he climbed the tree himself and scanned the area, much like the girl before him, and then quickly ate two apples, and took one with him, grabbed a new stick, and left the area in the opposite direction of the girl.

For some reason Ichigo was glad he saw someone else eating something, for the past month he though he was the only person who needed food at all, and he was beginning to think something was wrong with him. With that weight off his shoulders he walked towards the safety of the shadows between two broken houses.

Lying down as he drifted off to sleep thinking about finding the girl from earlier, if only to have someone to talk to. She moved faster than he did, so she must be able to take care of herself, so she wouldn't slow him down. Mind made up, he fell asleep with a rare smile on his face.

**Two Months Pass**

Ichigo looked down at his feet as he walked through the district. After about three months in the Rukongai, he had lost his shoes. A part of him was sad that he lost them; and yet, another part felt that he now belonged where he was, since no one else had shoe either. He thought he lost one while running away from an adult, but he wasn't really concerned about it at the time. It was only when he stopped did he feel the dirt underneath his left foot, now without its shoe.

Sighing he continued to walk, the only sound he made was from the bag of rocks he had at his waist. He found the small bag a month ago, and decided to use it for rocks since it was to small for the apples he found. He used the rocks mainly as a distraction, to move the adults away from their water, and sometimes as a weapon, he didn't always want to fight up close. The rocks were easy to find, and easy to throw, and when he concentrated, he could send the rocks rocketing towards his opponents that were almost impossible to see from their speed.

Ichigo still carried around a small stick; it had proven useful over the past months, and he started to feel comfortable wielding it. Now, there was a little amount of battle-honed skill in his strikes. Instead of swinging and hoping, Ichigo would stab, slash, and block with the stick. He also noticed that the sticks were lasting longer, the one he currently held had lasted almost a month, far longer than his first stick, despite their similar size.

Not all things were going well for him though; he had yet to see that raven-haired girl again, despite his constant searching. Sometimes he felt like he saw a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned he didn't see anything. After a week of unsuccessful searching, he had given up the task, and just focused again on survival.

Still, he was proud at how well he was doing alone, and it stopped bothering him that he hadn't said a word in almost two months. He still felt the compulsion to help others, and sometimes he would leave some water at the edge of an ally in front of some young kids who weren't able to get any themselves, but he never stayed around to see if they got the water, he would just place the water on the ground, and run off.

His recollection of the past month or so was interrupted when he heard the a candy salesman yell, "GET BACK HERE YOU BRATS! IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME THAT WATER BACK, I WILL KILL YOU!"

For whatever reason, Ichigo couldn't help but run towards the yelling.

As he rounded the corner, he found the redhead that he saw his second day in Inuzuri and his three friends being chased by the candy salesman, brandishing a kama and threatening them. Then one of the redhead's friends tripped, sprawling out on the ground.

Ichigo just reacted. Pulling a rock from his bag, he focused on hitting the sickle and knocking it out of the man's hand. Pulling his arm back, he released the rock, sending it rocketing towards the weapon. The rock connected, and shattered the wooden shaft, leaving the man with only half of the shaft in his hand.

Then the raven-haired girl slide into the man's legs, knocking him over onto the ground as the metal head of his weapon clattered to the ground. She quickly got up and yelled, "What are you waiting for, let's get out of here!"

Ichigo wasn't sure who she was talking to, but he knew she was right, so he spun around and ran off in the other direction, planning on splitting up from the other kids. He wasn't expecting a hand to grab him at the elbow and pull him perpendicular from where he was heading, almost tripping him. As he turned to face the person who was pulling his arm, he was surprised to see the raven-haired girl.

"Come over here, we will hide from him for a while with the others. No one has ever found me here when I hide alone, I am sure that won't change with more people there."

Nodding, Ichigo followed the girl, meeting up with the four boys from before. The girl told them to follow her, as she dragged Ichigo along behind her, her grip never loosening until they arrived at what appeared to be an opening to the sewer. After the girl moved the metal covering and ushered the others inside, he noticed that it was more like a room than a sewer.

They all waited in silence, both because they were waiting for the adult to give up on looking for them, and because they didn't know anything to really say to each other. Ichigo was trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone, staring at the ground between his legs, or up at the ceiling. If someone was going to break the silence, it wasn't going to be him. Fortunately for everyone else, someone was more than willing.

"Thanks! I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't tackled the man to the ground!" the red headed boy all but shouted at the girl despite the silence, making Ichigo's ears ring. "The name is Renji Abarai, and these are my friends. We were trying to get candy for some little kids that we are watching. You should come with us to see them, I am sure they will enjoy meeting you!"

Ichigo didn't mind that he was being ignored; he didn't really want to be there, he was just waiting for the all clear so he could be on his way, and back alone.

The girl responded to Renji, drawing Ichigo's attention to her.

"Thanks, you are welcome for the hiding spot too by the way. I don't know if I should go with you though, I don't think I would do well with the kids. Oh, and my name is Rukia."

Renji seemed to think about this and then said, "I don't think they will mind, they wouldn't be afraid of someone like you, you are just a girl."

He didn't notice that Rukia's fist clenched in anger at that. If he did, maybe he would have stopped there.

"And you're short anyway, so you cant be that strong."

Poor Renji never saw the fist that hit him in the stomach.

"Shut it, you stupid red haired brute, I am much stronger than you, or your friends! I think I will go with you now, if only to prove you wrong. Now get up, idiot!" she shouted at him.

Her response got Ichigo to laugh, which drew he attention to him. Realizing he was caught watching, Ichigo immediately looked to the ground, hoping that she wouldn't talk to him. If only he were so lucky.

Rounding an him, Rukia stomped up to him and poked his shoulder and said, "and you, how did you do that with that rock? I've never seen a rock break through wood like that."

That statement got Renji's attention. "He did what?"

"You didn't see? He threw a rock that just disappeared, and then shattered the shaft of the old man's weapon. I don't know what happened to the rock, I didn't even see it after he threw it though."

This was news to Ichigo; he knew he could follow the rock, so he thought that everyone else could too. Then he realized the red-haired boy looking at him intently.

"So this kid helped us too?"

Rukia nodded while still keeping her finger on his shoulder, and then poked him again.

"So tell me kid, how'd you do it."

Ichigo looked up at her, and for the first time he made eye contact with her. Rukia seemed to be looking forward to his answer, but his only response was narrowed eyes, and then a glance down to his hand. He then mumbled something, breaking his two month long silence for the first time.

"I couldn't hear that, speak up," Rukia demanded.

"I don't know. I just threw the rock."

His voice sounded foreign to him, it sounded a little deeper than he remembered, but he wasn't sure.

"That's it? You just threw it?"

Ichigo nodded.

''I don't believe you; you must have done something special. Tell me."

"I just focused on the guys weapon, and then threw the rock to knock it out of his hand. I didn't think it would break the wood."

His answers were short and to the point from not talking for so long. However, Rukia thought he was trying to hide something from him.

Poking him again, Rukia warned him, "If you don't tell me, I will make you"

Renji interjected here, unknowingly saving Ichigo from answering anything else.

"What does it matter to you anyway, he helped us, so I thank both of you. You got a name? You can call me Renji."

"Ichigo Kurosaki"

"Ha! Your name is strawberry? Are you sure you were just seeing thing midget? There is no way someone with that name could have done what you said, not even I can do that."

Rukia's head snapped to Renji.

"Midget?! You learn very slowly, idiot."

"Wha-"

His question was cut off by Rukia punching him in the gut again, followed by her planting he foot in his stomach pinning him on the floor. She turned to Ichigo, and told him, "you are coming with me to wherever he is taking us, then you are showing me your rock trick."

Terrified of her, Ichigo could only nod in response.

"That's a good berry, now come along Renji, if that man didn't hear us before, then the coast is clear. Let's go, time is wasting."

Ichigo scowled at his nickname, but followed her nonetheless, not wanting to draw her anger. Renji joined them, as his three friends followed a short distance behind them.

"So tell me midget, how long have you been here?"

Ignoring the comment about her height she responded, "as long as I can remember, I stopped counting after ten years, and that was a while ago. What about you, idiot?"

"Who, me?" Renji asked, "I have been here for about five or ten years. I met up with those guys almost immediately after I got here, so we have been together ever since. What about you strawberry?"

No response.

"Ichigo?"

"What?"

"I asked you how long you've been here."

"Oh. A few months. Three I think."

Rukia and Renji looked at each other in surprise.

"That is it?" Renji asked.

A nod.

"Someone must have helped you out."

Ichigo shook his head in response.

"You aren't lying to us, are you?" Rukia asked skeptically.

Ichigo shook his head more vigorously, he didn't want to cross the short girl, she proved she was willing to hurt Renji, and he doubted she would act differently towards him.

"I guess I will believe you. If you show me that rock thing."

Ichigo nodded again

"Me too, I want to see what she is talking about," Renji demanded.

Ichigo nodded a little slower this time.

"Great, and then I will show you how to do it better," Renji boasted.

The group continued on to where Renji was leading them, with Renji talking most of the time, Rukia hitting over an insult, and Ichigo responded every so often in short answers. They walked off into the sunset, candy in hand, and for the first time, Ichigo felt himself relaxing in the presence of others. Knowing he was stuck with them for the time being,

Ichigo prepared himself, as Renji boasted about something again, a rare smile upon his lips for the start of a new chapter of his life.

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Not bad for chapter number two. This one was about 4500 words before adding the bits at the beginning and the the stuff down here. anyway, I hope Rukia came out ok here, I wanted her to be the one who was more conditioned by the area they lived in, since she had spent the most time there. I also hope that Ichigo's unconscious use of his powers came across well, if not tell me.

I managed to get this one out early since nothing in my summer class was interesting, so I typed most of this there instead. Sadly, I have a final test followed by the final exam this week, so I don't think the next chapter will be written until the weekend Regardless, thanks for reading this far, and please follow, favorite, and review, cause that would make me happy.

-Jimba


	3. About Potential Allies

Welcome back everyone! Thank you for all the views, I believe this story is nearing 200 views. Hot Damn, you guys are awesome. I was so happy I got this chapter done early. That, and I have terrible study habits, so I was doing this when I should have been studying, whatever. Anyway this chapter turned out much differently than I planned, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Oh, and I got my very first review, so I will respond to it here, and if there aren't too many for the other chapters, I will do the same.

**hornet07:** I would be lying if I said Rukia would stop hitting Ichigo (or Renji) completely, but I have no intention of it happening all the time. It will definitely go down as they get to know each other, as Ichigo will learn what not to say when around Rukia, Renji not so much, so I hope that doesn't bother you. Also, when Rukia is adopted (Spoiler I suppose) it will decrease even more. It will only really happen when Ichigo is trying to get a reaction out of her, other than that he will probably just get a tongue lashing or a death glare. I will make sure not to over do it though. Thanks for the review.

That is that, so please enjoy this chapter too!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

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Led by Renji, the six kids walked towards wherever he was taking them. Ichigo refrained from asking questions, hoping that he would be ignored. No such luck there, Rukia was getting impatient to see his "rock trick", and was starting to try to get more information out of him.

"There must be more to it than just focusing. They aren't normal rocks, right?" Rukia questioned Ichigo for what he felt was the hundredth time.

"They are normal, I pick them up off the ground when I need them and I see a good one," Ichigo answered, a little shortly. He just didn't understand the big deal; he just threw a rock, why wouldn't this girl leave him alone about it?

Rukia didn't seem satisfied, and continued to bother him, "Really? Normal rocks don't move the fast when I throw them, so you must have done something special."

This had carried on for the past ten minutes, and Ichigo had enough. Renji snickering every time he tried to ignore Rukia wasn't helping him mood either.

"Then I don't know what to tell you," he snapped, "maybe you should just throw the rocks faster! I already told you I would try to do it again when we got to where he was taking us, so just leave me alone until then."

Shocked by his harsh tone, Rukia left his side and walked next to Renji. Satisfied by once again being alone, Ichigo let out a sigh of relief, silently; he was still terrified of the girl and he didn't want to get her any angrier.

After about five minutes of silence, Ichigo started to feel bad for snapping at Rukia. He knew that he shouldn't have, but her constant questioning wore his patience down, and he couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth. That thought surprised him, considering how little he had talked before. Maybe he was more comfortable with them than he thought

As he was about to apologize to her, Renji cleared his throat and said, "Alright everyone, here we are, welcome to our humble abode. Everyone else should be inside; there are a few other older kids like us that protect the younger kids here. They may be a little mean, but we need the help."

As he explained, a young kid ran up to him. Seeing him, Renji handed him the bag of stolen candy with a smile, and told him to hand it out to the others.

"Now, let's go inside and meet everyone," he continued. Then he turned to Rukia and said, "I am sure all the girls here will want to meet you. Maybe even some of the boys, though you aren't pretty enough for that."

As Rukia pounded Renji on the head, Ichigo thought that maybe Renji should speak a little less, if only for his health.

Once Renji peeled himself off the ground again, they headed inside the broken base. It was little more than one of the few houses that were still standing on the outside, the run down look further reinforced by the boarded over windows and the cracks in the wall.

The inside wasn't really much better. A small hole in the roof provided the majority of the light for the base, though some light got in from the spaces between the planks on the windows. Despite that, the house seemed remarkably stable, and despite his hesitation to go in, Ichigo found it safer than sleeping wherever he did, alleys or between rocks in the rubble of buildings, anywhere he thought was safe from others.

Whatever his thoughts of the people, however, he was not expecting the scene playing out in front of him. An older kid had the bag of candy in his hand, lording over the young kid that Renji had told to pass out the candy.

"Listen! You little kids should be a little more thankful of the help I provide," the older kid sneered, "so I am going to help myself to thee pieces of candy, and if I feel up to it, I will give you what is left."

Ichigo felt the urge to punch the older kid for being so arrogant, but remembering that Renji said the older kids were needed, he restrained himself. Fortunately for him, Rukia didn't care, and she very quickly moved up to the bully and punched him in the gut and grabbed the candy from him. She then threw it to Ichigo, who almost dropped it in surprise. As Ichigo handed it back to the little kid on the ground, then Rukia began to yell at the older kid.

"Why cant you just help that kid? What is so bad about helping others? Aren't you strong enough to help more than just yourself? What could possibly stop you from helping them? Can't you see that you are capable of helping others, and yet here you are, looking out only for yourself! People like you are the reason this place is so terrible, why I have to sleep with one eye open, why I have to be careful and can't relax. Just because you are strong, doesn't mean you are always right, you are acting just like those adults that we got the candy from! Get over yourself!"

Her tirade finished, she stormed out of the room, the door clattered shut behind her. Both Renji and Ichigo were speechless. Renji because he had never thought someone like Rukia could be so strong in her beliefs, and he was impressed with her ability to move others with her words. Looking around her saw all of the older kids looking at the little kids that they protected with more concern, and a healthy amount of fear of Rukia.

Ichigo, however, was surprised at how her words affected him. He hadn't thought about others much after his decision to stop going out of his way to help others. Never since finding the dead kid in that ally those three months did he think his actions were bad.

He was just surviving, and at the time, that was good enough. Now, he realized that the adults he had stolen from were also just surviving, those teens who had bullied him were _just _surviving. He wasn't any better than any of them, maybe worse, since he ignored the part of him that wanted to help others. That thought out a bad taste in his mouth, and he wanted to fix it, and he knew Rukia could help him.

Silently, he turned and headed towards the door, opening it and letting it close without a sound.

As he left, Renji seemed to get his mouth working again, saying, "Wow, that girl is a tough one isn't she. Maybe she isn't even a girl, huh Strawberry?" he asked Ichigo.

Hearing no response, he turned towards where Ichigo was, and was surprised to see him no longer there.

"Where did he go? Must of left when I wasn't paying attention to him. Oh well, I will check on Rukia after I get me some of that candy!"

Stepping out of the house, Ichigo found Rukia up in a tree, staring off at the sunset. Quickly thinking he needed to say something, he opened his mouth, "That was impressive in there. I don't think I have heard anyone speak like that since I got here, I normally hear threats or curses."

If Rukia heard, she did nothing to show it, so Ichigo continued.

"Did you know that today was the first time I talked to anyone in almost three months. I was a bit surprised at my voice when I first answered you," Ichigo softly laughed at the end.

That got her attention. Turning her head slightly to face him, she responded, "Really? I guess I can understand that. I guess you really have been alone since you got here, huh?"

"Yeah, I had tried to get some help from the adults when I first got her, but they just yelled at me, so I ran off. I learned the next day I would have to steal water when I needed it, though it took me a few attempts to get it down without getting caught."

"I see. You do seem like you know how to handle yourself here, even if you haven't been around as long as most people here. So, did you help anyone?"

Ichigo wasn't looking forward to answering this, so he hesitated. Rukia took it as a no.

"So you are like that older kid in there? Just like the others," Rukia said harshly, looking back at the sunset.

"No, no, I help kids, or I used too. It is complicated."

She jumped down from he vantage point. As she stood up, she made eye contact with Ichigo.

"How is it complicated?"

She seemed less mad than before, though way she asked the question demanded an answer from Ichigo.

"I was helping kids for about a week, giving them water when they couldn't, or didn't know how to get it themselves. Then I came across a kid in an ally who looked like he needed some water. As I walked up to them, a group of teens surrounded me, and demanded I give them the water instead. They had known I was giving away some of it to others. I told them no, and then we fought. I took down two of them, but the other two grabbed me, then beat me with a stick."

Ichigo had to stop and take a breath here, he still wasn't used to talking, and the memory was not one he wanted to remember, much less talk about. However, he felt the need to explain himself to Rukia, her violet eyes seemed to be expected him to continue.

"After they left me on the ground, they walked off with the water, I got up and walked over to the kid, to see if I could help him. It turned out he was…dead. I lost the water, and was beat up trying to help someone I couldn't. After that, I decided to only look out for myself."

His story finished, he looked back at Rukia's eyes, trying to see what she thought of him. He knew he didn't tell her that he sometimes left water for others, but since he never stuck around to see who got it, he never knew if he was really helping, so at least to him, it wasn't really the same thing.

Rukia stood looking at Ichigo in silence for a few minutes. Her eyes just looked into his, looking for any hint of deception. They stared at each other quietly, Rukia not responding, and Ichigo unsure if he should say anymore. He was a little surprised when she offered him a small smile.

Relaxing, Ichigo returned the smile, which is why the punch to his shoulder caught him off guard. Staggering back, he looked back at Rukia, only to see her triumphantly smiling back at him.

"That was for snapping at me earlier. Next time I will aim somewhere else."

Ichigo couldn't help himself, and started laughing. The act itself relieved him, and when Rukia joined in, he knew it would be hard to go back to being alone. He hadn't realized how much he missed the company of others.

Renji walked out to find the two of them laughing. Confused, but eager to join in on the apparent fun, he walked up to them, jokingly saying, "I thought you two had run off, and here you are flirting! Watch out Berry, that midget can punch."

"Truer words have never been spoken, idiot," Rukia declared, right before kicking Renji in the shin. "She can also kick."

Ichigo couldn't hold his laughter back, and neither could Rukia. The two laughed for a few more minutes, as Renji massaged his newly bruised shin.

Grumbling, Renji spoke up, "yes, laugh it up, I guess I will ask other people to join our group, good luck on your own you bastards."

That got the two of them to stop. Surprisingly it was Ichigo who spoke up first.

"I don't know; I am not used to working with others. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone because of that. Anyway, I really only threw a rock, I don't think you need me much."

Rukia's head snapped to Ichigo, reminded of his "rock trick."

"I had almost forgotten, you still need to show me how you did that," Rukia exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's right, I want to see what she is talking about," Renji seconded.

"Is it really that important to you?"

They both nodded

"Wasn't he just asking us to join him?"

"We can talk about that later," came Renji's response, "now we want you to show us this trick that the midget over there hasn't shut up about."

The glare Rukia sent Renji could have frozen hell over, but she chose to ignore his insult. Turning back to Ichigo, she smiled, and as sweetly as she could, said, "Please Ichigo, I will stop asking once you show me."

Sighing, Ichigo grabbed a rock from the pouch at his side. Looking around for something to throw the rock safely, he decided to aim at the tree Rukia had sat in. Focusing of the tree, Ichigo threw the rock. The rock went towards the tree, and bounced off harmlessly.

"There, happy?"

It was obvious that there were not happy in the slightest.

"Well, I could have done that. Some trick," Renji spoke up. Shaking his head, he turned to head back inside.

"No, wait, that wasn't what he did. I swear it moved much faster than that when he threw it at the man earlier," Rukia defended.

"Maybe you were seeing things, you were moving then, right?" Renji returned. He then walked to the door. "Whatever, it isn't important. The offer still stands for you two. At the very least you can stay the night here."

As the door closed Rukia turned back to Ichigo, a questioning look on her face. She asked him, "Could you try it again, and this time think about whatever it was when you broke the handle of that kama."

"Fine, once more."

Closing his eyes, Ichigo tried to think back to when he threw the rock at the man to save Renji's friend. The desire to protect the kid came back to his mind, and Ichigo's eyes snapped open. His hand grabbed a rock out the bag, and then snapped forward, launching the rock towards the tree.

At that moment, Renji walked back out, to tell them to get inside if they were staying.

Rukia, who was standing close to Ichigo, saw his eyes turn from brown to a light blue color very briefly right before he sent the rock flying.

Within a second, the rock hit the tree, and kept going, boring a hole straight through, then it disappeared towards the outskirts of Inuzuri.

The whole action from Ichigo grabbing the rock, to throwing it through the tree took less than a second.

Then, there was an awe filled silence.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Ichigo suddenly felt tired, and hungry. Sitting down on the ground, he took in a deep breath of air. He looked up at Rukia, to see her reaction. It was comical. Her eyes were wide; staring at the hole in the tree, and her mouth was hanging slightly open. Facing Renji, he found the same befuddled expression. Ichigo couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

The noise brought Rukia out of her stupor, and her attention to Ichigo. Renji, however, uttered only two words, as he continued to face the tree.

"Holy shit."

"What he said," Rukia mumbled. A little louder, she said, "I told you he could do it."

"I believe you now," came Renji's response. Looking at Ichigo, he couldn't help but as, "How the hell did you do that?"

Ichigo, was too tired to bother with an explanation he didn't have, so he slowly got to his feet, and told them the truth.

"I have no idea." And with a smile on his face he walked to the door, saying, "I think I will be sleeping here tonight, that took a lot out of me. I hope there is some candy left, I am hungry too."

Ignoring their looks of utter confusion, Ichigo walked inside the base. As the door shut behind him, Rukia and Renji both looked back at the tree, then at the door that Ichigo just went through.

Renji was the first to recover, yelling after Ichigo as he rushed through the door, "Hey! You can't just do something like that and walk off!"

The door closed behind him, and Rukia stood outside for a little longer, laughing to herself as she heard Renji demand answer from Ichigo from inside the base. Smiling to herself, she knew that she would have to stick around, it was far too much fun for her with those two to go back to being alone. With one last glance to the setting sun, Rukia walked back into the base, and for the first time in a long while, she was looking forward to tomorrow.

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There we go, thank you for reading this far. I hope the conversation here wasn't too rushed. Like I said at the top, there was supposed to be more to this chapter, but as I wrote this part, specifically the talk between Rukia and Ichigo, I found it hard to shorten, I wanted to make it seem plausible without cutting corners or going too long. It turned out to be longer than I though it would be, and I didn't want to gone on because the next planned scene had a much different tone. Anyway, the next part should be ready early next week, so you all can be the judge if I should have split them apart.

Also, we have two or three more chapter's in the Rukongai, and then to the Academy. After that they will join the Gotei 13, but I haven't decided where Ichigo will go. So, I will open a poll on my profile, and you all can vote for squads 2-13, because I don't want to do squad 1. Keep in mind I have an idea of where I want him to go, but that is a secret, and if I think I can write it well, I will do that one. This is to see what you guys want, and if what I am thinking is different, I will see which I can write well.

I think that is everything. Thank you all for being awesome, and please follow, favorite and review

-Jimba


	4. Team Work 101

Surprise, I got this done early. I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

I am between classes, the summer session starts back up Monday, which will actually give me more time to write, oddly enough. So you all can expect update often for now, about one a week, more if I am feeling ambitious.

I want to remind you all that there is now a poll up on my profile for deciding which squad Ichigo should join, I will keep you all updated until it is closed. At the time I wrote this, the tally is:  
Squad 10: 2  
Squad 8: 1Others: 0

So vote if you have a strong desire to see Ichigo in a particular squad, and feel free to send me a pm about why you chose what you did.

As always, enjoy this chapter, and follow if you want to know when I update, favorite if you really like it, and review if you want me to change something, or just to say you like what I am doing.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach

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It had been about a month and a half since Ichigo and Rukia joined up with Renji. At first the change was uncomfortable, for Ichigo in particular, since Rukia had been in groups before, just not very long.

For Ichigo it was learning to deal with these people that was the most difficult thing at first. He quickly learned that neither Renji nor Rukia would give him much time alone, which was difficult enough to find in the base without them trying to talk to him.

To him the conversations weren't important, not the he would admit that to Rukia, he wasn't about to fall out of her good graces. Renji, however, he didn't care quite as much. For one, Renji didn't kick his shins when angered, and two; Renji seemed to understand that Ichigo sometimes wanted to be alone. Of course Renji still bothered him, but in a way to get him to laugh.

If Ichigo were being honest, the first night he stayed was the worst. First off, Renji wouldn't leave him alone about his "rock trick" and bothered him about it for an hour, no matter how hard Ichigo tried to get him to believe his own ignorance of how it worked.

Then, Renji caught him off guard by reminding him about joining up with his group, promising he would leave Ichigo alone about his rock trick if he did, and then threatened to follow him around Inuzuri until he either joined, or explained how he sent a rock clear through a tree. Ichigo agreed almost immediately, followed shortly by Rukia agreeing to help out with the younger kids.

Falling asleep that night was hard for Ichigo, since he had never slept near another person since he arrived, much less a group of them. He found a relatively isolated corner, and laid on one of the mats Renji had offered him. To his surprise both Renji and Rukia ended up close to him.

Lying down, he noticed he still had the habit of picking out every small noise, despite being much safer than he was the night before. This proved problematic because Renji snored. Loudly. That, mixed with his keen sense of hearing prevented him from falling asleep. Rolling over to face Rukia, he found her happily asleep, completely unaware of the racket their red-haired companion was making. Rolling onto his back, Ichigo stared up at the ceiling until he managed to fall asleep, though he still wasn't sure if that ever happened.

The following nights Ichigo made sure to find a spot after Renji, much to Rukia's amusement, and he tried to fall asleep first, usually unsuccessfully. It took his time so far with him to get used to the noise that Renji was unknowingly making.

Thinking back to it, Ichigo had to admit it was a little funny, but at the time, the headaches and sleep depravation made the funny side hard to see.

There were other problems that Ichigo had joining the group. Unlike Rukia, he had a hard time working with others. There was something about working with others, particularly in a fight that he just could not do.

_**Flashback to one week after Ichigo joins Renji**_

It had been one week of working with Rukia and Renji before the three ran into a group of older kids willing to actually fight them, normally they would leave them alone, something that mad Ichigo glad he joined up with the others.

Ichigo and Rukia were carrying the jugs of water, with Renji in front of them to keep them out of harms way. They normally rotated protection duty, but sometimes Renji wanted to prove he was, as he put it, the "man" of the group.

When they were about halfway back to the base, they encountered a group of five older kids, looking around the age of fifteen. Their leader walked up to Renji, as the other's spread out, blocking their way forward.

"Listen you little kids, we need some water, and we know you have been collecting some of it for those wastes of space in your base. So here is the deal, you give us the water you have here, and we leave you alone, even those little snots back at your base."

Ichigo was tempted to hand over the water, if only to avoid a fight, but the little kids under their protection needed the water to survive, so he immediately started looking for a way to escape. Then Renji opened his mouth.

"If you want the water, you will have to take it from us, you bastards!" yelled Renji, as he got ready to fight off the teens.

Rukia, who had remained impassive until now, was the first to react, hurling her jug of water at the leader of the teen group, and sprinting forwards. The abrupt action caught the teens by surprise, as the water jug shattered on the head of their leader, and Rukia followed it up with a sliding tackle, knocking him down and out before the fighting even started.

"Get that bitch!" yelled one of the teens, as the fight began.

Unsure of what to do, Ichigo placed the jug of water on the ground, in an attempt to save it from breaking during the fight. He then moved up to support Rukia, who was getting surrounded by three of the four remaining teens.

He wasn't positive of which on to go after first, and he didn't want to get in her way, Ichigo decided to go after the one closer to him. Grabbing a rock from his pouch, he threw it at the teen to get his attention, and draw him away from Rukia.

The rock hit his target in the shoulder, and Ichigo's plan worked, as the teen turned to face Ichigo. Dodging the teen's punch, Ichigo stepped inside the teens guard; he quickly punched the teen twice in the ribs before stepping back out of the other kids reach. Groaning, the teen clutched his ribs as he advanced quickly towards Ichigo.

Surprised by the teen's ability to move fast despite his now bruised ribs, Ichigo had to duck and weave through the feral blows that the teen was sending at him in quick succession. Thought they weren't very well aimed, the punches did come quickly, and Ichigo had to move back in order to avoid them, slowly moving further from the others.

Fortunately for Ichigo, the teen threw on punch too far. Capitalizing on the teen's mistake, he rushed in and punched his opponent cleanly in the jaw, and followed it up with a kick to the stomach, sending the teen reeling back.

The victory was short lived, however, as Ichigo realized the teen was falling back right into Renji, who about to end his fight.

Trying to warn Renji, Ichigo yelled, "Move Renji!" just a second to late. As the shout left his mouth, the teen landed on top of Renji with a thud, the teen's now unconscious body trapping Renji underneath.

Renji's poor luck didn't end there, as his own opponent saw his golden opportunity to take down Renji with an easy kick to the head. He cocked his leg back as Ichigo started to move forward. The teen then started to bring his foot forward; an unseen force suddenly threw him forward.

The force turned out to be Rukia, who had just taken down her two opponents, and kick the unsuspecting teen in the back hard enough to send him to the ground, landing on top of Ichigo's opponent, adding more weight keeping Renji trapped on the ground.

"Ugh…" Renji groaned, "couldn't you have hit him to the side or something? They are so heavy."

Rukia just smiled as she bent down to began helping Renji out from underneath two of their aggressors. After the few minutes it took to get him out, Ichigo grabbed the water off the ground, and they quickly headed back to the safety of their base.

Suddenly Renji came to a stop, turned around to face Ichigo, and yelled "How did your guy land on me!?"

Caught off guard by the abrupt question, it took Ichigo a second to respond.

"It was my fault, I wasn't looking to where you were, and when I kicked him, I didn't realize you were behind him."

"So you were the reason I was almost kicked in the face?"

Ichigo nodded.

"You are a damn Idiot!" Renji shouted at him, and then punched his shoulder hard enough to cause Ichigo to almost drop the water he held.

Stumbling back while trying to not drop the water, Ichigo was shocked at the sudden change in demeanor of Renji. Then he got angry.

"I said it was my fault, what more do you want from me?"

"How about an apology for being such a screw up. Who can't fight in a group?"

"I can't! This was the first time I ever did! Sorry it wasn't perfect for you!"

Though he was slightly taken back from that, Renji was too angry to back down.

"You should be! Maybe next time we will leave you back at the base, of course you may just try to topple someone on top of a little kid instead!"

"It was an accident, or do you not understand what that is?"

"I understand it enough to know that someone like you will do it again!"

"Enough you two muscle bound morons!" Rukia finally interjected. "Renji, we get it, Ichigo made a mistake, rubbing it in his face isn't going to help. And Ichigo, you know you need to work on fighting as a group, you aren't alone now, so pay attention to your surroundings, and us, more next time."

"Hai" was their combined response.

"Good, now let's go home, I am tired from taking care of both of you," Rukia chirped as she walked off.

An uncomfortable silence followed their return, until Ichigo spoke up, saying, "Renji?"

"What?"

"Are you mad because I was paying attention, or you realized Rukia took down more guys than you?"

The silence returned for a few seconds, before Renji turned away, mumbling, "Shut up"

Then Rukia started to laugh as Renji blushed and picked up the pace.

"Oh, shut up midget! Next fight I will take down more than both of you! Combined!" Renji shouted, causing Rukia to laugh harder.

"Yeah right! You couldn't take out one of them," returned Rukia.

The group's banter filled the night's air as they headed back to the base from their first fight together.

_**Flashback end**_

There had only been a handful of fights since the first one, each one Ichigo felt he did better than the last, but he couldn't really get used to fighting with others. Rukia had insisted that it would get better with time, but Renji was impatient with him, and they frequently got into arguments over it.

Ichigo quickly found a rival in Renji. This wasn't to say they weren't friends, but Renji was constantly trying to out do everyone else, and would boast about it until someone else, usual Rukia or Ichigo beat him at it. Since Rukia would often ignore his boasting Ichigo would often challenge him over some of his claims, which caused many friendly, and some not so friendly argument between then two.

Rukia was completely different than Renji. She was very strong, and she knew it, but unlike their red-haired friend, she didn't brag about it. The only thing she every seemed bothered about was he height, which Ichigo had learned to never insult unless you wanted a bruise somewhere on your body.

Ichigo wasn't quite sure what to make of her, on one side she was always agreeable, and she knew how to end arguments between Renji and Ichigo quickly and peacefully (usually). Then the other side took offense to simple things, like insults to her height, or someone ignoring someone else at the base. She had more than once berated Ichigo for zoning out when she was talking to him. These made Ichigo unsure of where he stood with her, and what she was to him, though he would admit that she was at least a friend.

Despite the confusing relationships, Ichigo found himself laughing and relaxing more each he spent in their company. There was seldom a quiet day with Renji around, and Rukia was always there to help shut him up when necessary.

Relaxing in one of the few times he found himself alone, Ichigo closed his eyes and reflected on the past month or so with the two of them. Although they tried his patience often, he couldn't think of a time he had enjoyed himself as much since he arrived here.

Opening his eyes, he noticed Rukia heading towards him. Sitting up straighter, he made eye contact with her as she got close.

"You ready to head out for another water run, Strawberry?"

He could never get away from that name here.

"Of course Rukia, I wouldn't want Renji to get hurt without being there to see it."

"Hey! I heard that!" Renji yelled from across the base.

Laughing Rukia and Ichigo headed to the door, as Renji followed them a minute later.

Looking out at the sunrise, Ichigo realized how happy he had been working with Renji and Rukia. A smile on his face, he turned to face both of them as Renji joined them outside.

"Come on you two, let's get this over with."

The three headed off towards their destination with unusually high hopes for the future unaware of what fate had in store for them.

* * *

So this chapter was what I split from the last one. I didn't think the first group fight would go well with the talk with Rukia. Anyway, the next chapter should be the last full chapter in the Rukongai, and then a transition chapter from the Rukongai to the academy. Then the academy section begins, hurray. I have some fun plans for that. Speaking of the next chapter, I think I may be able to get it out tomorrow, since I have nothing else to do that day. It may be a bit longer than chapter 2, which was the longest so far.

Oh, and thank you all for the views on this story, you are making me feel good about myself. Over 100 views just yesterday, which is great to me. So thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy it enough to come back for more.

Oh, and do not forget to vote about Ichigo's future squad, it is as easy as a click if you have an account.

-Jimba


	5. Growing Older and Closer

Welcome back you all, I hope you had a good weekend this week.

So, some numbers for you all today. So far this story has had 748 views (at time of writing this preface). Holy. Crap. I was not expecting something like that when I started typing this out, and I am happy that this many people have read so far. Saturday alone, this story got 251 views, the most so far. I cannot thnk you readers enough for your support, and I hope it continues as this story is written.

Next up is the vote count, and a reminder that the poll to vote on which squad Ichigo will go to is on my profile. If you are a guest, and have a burning desire to see Ichigo in a particular squad, sen me a pm or a review, which ever you can, and tell me which squad and why, someone has already done so. The poll will be open until the end of the Academy part, so you have plenty of time to vote. On to the numbers!

Squad 8: 4  
Squad 10: 3  
Squad 2: 2  
Squad 13: 2

So there you have it, I was a bit surprised about squad 2 being there, so if anyone who voted for it can tell me why, I would appreciated it. The other squads I understand, but an explanation for them will not go unread by me.

**Jujubean:** Thank you for the compliment. To answer you question about the vizards, this is after they are exiled from the soul society, around 60ish years after that happened. As for the pairing, I am still undecided, but who knows those two may get together, it is an option I have considered. Anyway, thanks for the review and the vote.

So here you are, Chapter five for your enjoyment. If you really liked this, add it to your favorites, if you want to know when I update, follow, and if you have the time and want to tell me what I did wrong or right, please review.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach

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"Oh, my head," groaned Ichigo as he blinked open his eyes.

He wasn't sure where he was exactly, but it looked like an alleyway near the market area of Inuzuri. His head was throbbing and there was a ringing in his ear, along with muffled sounds of the everyday life in Inuzuri.

Sitting up, he tried to blink away the grogginess he felt, trying to get in his surroundings. Then he heard what sounded like his name, but he couldn't tell over the ringing in his ears. Not only that he felt incredibly hungry, more than he felt ever before, but he could have sworn he ate recently.

As his senses slowly came back to him, he saw Rukia sitting close to him, saying something he couldn't understand. How he missed her before was beyond him, she was maybe a foot away from him. He tried to figure out what she was saying.

"Ic…o, …igo? … you…ight? C…..ou…he…me?"

"What? I can't understand you"

Rukia appeared to understand him about as well as he did her. The confusion in her eyes was clear, but they seemed a bit unfocused and tired. Looking over at Renji, Ichigo saw he was deep in thought, which was unusual enough for him, but with a troubled look on his features for the first time since Ichigo met him. Considering how long that was Ichigo was concerned.

It had been six years since the three of them came together, and they had all changed, both physically and mentally.

Starting with Renji, who had grown to almost five and a half feet tall, growing about a foot in the past six years, coming out by far as the tallest of the three. He was a little more muscular, though still thin, and he grew his hair just a little, but he kept the high ponytail. He had calmed a little, though Ichigo swore he had started boasting more, claiming to be the best at whatever they were doing all the time. He admittedly was the best at keeping the others laughing, and both Ichigo and Rukia were thankful for his weird brand of friendship.

Then, there was Rukia, who had somehow usurped Renji's position as the leader of the group of kids, much to Renji's chagrin. Though to his amusement, she grew maybe one or two inches, to about four and a half feet, just to where he was when they first met. She was still petite too, though both Ichigo and Renji would claim her shin kicks got harder.

Finally, there was Ichigo, who had grown to an inch below Renji, and filled out from his lanky childhood form. He had gotten close to both Renji and Rukia, thinking of them as his family. He was more comfortable around others, but was more than happy to let Rukia or Renji do the leading, he still had doubts of his ability to work with others, fearing he would cause something to go wrong and someone would get hurt.

Ichigo had stopped carrying around rocks now, considering he could throw them so fast that they would seriously hurt someone, and he didn't want to do that, he only wanted to deter. His stick swordsmanship had gone up in place of rocks, and he, along with Renji, who had picked up the sword (stick) as well, were incredibly capable with their weapons, to the point that most people left them alone. Rukia thought they looked like fools though, and refused to look like a "Neanderthal swinging around a stick."

Back in the alley, Ichigo's sense finally returned to him, and he focused on Rukia, at least until Renji pushed her out of the way and yelled at Ichigo.

"She was asking if you were alright, dumbass!"

He then gave Ichigo a hard slap to the face, continuing with, "do you remember what we were doing, because I can help you with that if you can't," he said with an evil glint in his eye as he brandished his hand near his ear, ready to give Ichigo another slap.

Ichigo scowled as he rubbed his cheek as he tried to remember what they were doing before he got here.

Rukia decided to help Ichigo, pushing Renji away, saying, "Do you remember who we saw in the market?"

Hearing her words, it all came back to him.

_**Flashback to an hour ago**_

"No, I don't understand why I have to go with you midget, you and Strawberry can take care of yourselves. I just want to sleep some more," complained a sleepy Renji, as he rolled over and scratched himself on his bed.

"Just get up you lazy fool, we need to get some water, and we can't get enough with only two of us."

Renji's response was to cover his head with the ratty blanket he used for warmth.

"Fine, we can do this the hard way then," Rukia replied ominously.

She walked away, and Renji thought he had gotten himself some more time to sleep. He was sadly mistaken.

His covers were suddenly ripped away, and then his bedding was pulled from underneath him, sending him across the ground. Rolling to a stop on the floor from his sudden departure from his bed, he glared up at the two people around him, holding his now taken apart bed.

Rukia had that infuriating smirk on her face as she held his blanket, as Ichigo stared tiredly at him, clearly just as unhappy as he was. He looked like he was just woken up too, probably by the same diminutive living alarm clock named Rukia.

"Good, you are both up," she chirped, ignoring their sleepy glares. "Let's head into the town to get some supplies.

"Why couldn't you get him to go with you?" both Ichigo and Renji asked at the same time.

"Kami, you two are so alike. Come on, I will leave you alone if you come with me, it won't take too long," Rukia said to both of them. "I even woke you two up, how can you be so tired after someone like me did something so nice for you?"

"Rukia, it is because _you_ woke us up we feel so bad," Ichigo calmly responded.

"What was that?"

Ichigo sighed; he didn't want to have an argument right after he woke up. "Nothing, your highness."

"I didn't think so," Rukia smiled as she headed towards the door.

Renji turned to Ichigo with a small smile. "Whipped."

"Shut up," Ichigo grumbled.

"Come one you two, less talking, more moving. We have things to do," Rukia called from the other side of the room.

Sighing simultaneously, the two guys followed her over to the door, ignoring her disapproving looks at their wrinkled attire; they both slept in their clothes.

Now out the door, they followed Rukia to the market.

In the past six years, the state of district 78 hadn't changed much. The adults were still cruel and uncaring to the kids around the area. The stall owners we still trying to peddle their wares, and the place was still very, very dirty.

Today, however, there seemed to be a commotion outside one of the few places that sold food. They were never allowed in, since most kids don't have any money. Regardless, the amount of people outside was extraordinary, it seemed like half of Inuzuri was there.

Ichigo felt the air grow heavy as they approached the crowd, intent on finding out what was going on. Then his head started to hurt and he started to hear a high pitch ring in his ears.

"You okay Ichigo?" Rukia asked. She noticed him starting to lag behind.

"Yeah, just a headache. I blame your wake up call," he joked, causing Rukia to roll her eyes.

They got to the edge of the crowd and started to move inside. Once there, they found an empty rickshaw, much to Renji's vocal disappointment.

"Oh, I am glad we got to the center of the crowd only to find an empty cart! What a great distraction! Let's just do what we need to and leave."

"Hey kid, don't you know there is a Shinigami leaving? He grew up here, pretty amazing right?" a man from the crowd told them.

"A what?" Ichigo asked, never having heard the word before.

"Ha, I am not surprised you haven't heard of them before way out here, most people haven't, and they tend to avoid the area these days," the man continued for Ichigo. "They are called Shinigami, or Soul Reapers, whatever you prefer. They are supposed to hunt hollows to keep us safe, and send souls from that have died in the human world to here."

Ichigo turned to Rukia, looking for conformation, which he got from a simple nod.

"Hollows are those monsters that we can hear screaming, right? They are in the human world too?"

"That's right Strawberry, even I knew that," Renji gloated, proud he knew more than his orange haired friend. "They go after souls, or anything with spiritual pressure to attempt to feed their never ending hunger. They stand out because they have masks covering their faces."

Nodding in understanding, Ichigo turned back to the rickshaw, waiting for the return of the Shinigami.

It took only a minute, and a man in a Shihakushō with a katana strapped to his side walked out. Immediately Ichigo felt weak, as if the air around him was pushing him to the ground. His breathing became labored, and he had to lean on Rukia for support.

"Ichigo? Hey, are you okay?" Rukia asked, as she tried to support the taller boy.

The Soul Reaper heard her slightly panicked shouts, and turned to face. He saw a fairly tall boy leaning on a shorter girl, the boy looked like an invisible force was pressing him down. Of course the soul reaper knew what was going on, so he started heading towards them, as he fished around in his shirt for the leftover food he had.

"Don't worry, your friend is going to be fine, he is just reacting to my spiritual pressure. Once I leave, he will be fine," said the man. Then he noticed Renji rubbing his temples and Rukia starting to have trouble supporting herself and Ichigo. "Rather you all are. Here, take this food, you need it here more than I do. When you are ready, I would suggest you leave here to join the Gotei 13 like I did, it is one of the few ways out of here."

As the shinigami handed the food to Renji, Ichigo passed out, ending his memory.

_**Flashback end**_

"I remember passing out on Rukia. Sorry about that," was Ichigo's response as he continued to rub away the stinging sensation from Renji's slap.

"Yeah, thanks for that, she and I had to drag you away from the crowds. Did you know how heavy you are, I am surprised the midget over here didn't hurt herself," Renji joked, earning him a glare from Rukia.

"So you remember meeting the Soul Reaper then?" asked Rukia, trying to keep the conversation focused.

Ichigo nodded.

"And you remember what he told us, about joining the Shinigami?"

Another nod.

"So what do you plan to do? Renji and I both agreed to stay here. We may not like it here in the terrible place, but without us, the others will not survive, but we know you aren't always comfortable with us or others, so we just, you know, wanted to know if you would leave," Rukia summarized, as she started to fidget at the end, though Ichigo didn't know why.

Still he could only smile at his two friends.

"What are you smiling at? Answer the question!" Renji demanded.

"What, are you worried about me leaving?"

Both of them looked away with a small blush.

"I am touched, honestly, that you have allowed me such an important part of your life that you can't imagine life with out me," Ichigo said, as he stood up and then began to pace. "I can see the benefits of leaving here and joining up with the Soul reapers"

Both Renji and Rukia lowered their heads at this.

"First, I would get to use a sword, which is much better than this stick. And have you seen that uniform? Much better than what I have now. Then, there is food there, I would assume that they have plenty of it, and they don't need to steal it from others. Probably the same with water. And, I bet they have real beds, not the used mats we have. Finally, I wouldn't have to be here, which is always a good thing."

With their heads lowering after every statement, it was a surprising that they were still upright by the time Ichigo finished.

"I…Ichigo, are you really going to leave us?" Rukia barely got out.

"But-," Ichigo continued, blatantly ignoring Rukia's tear filled eyes.

Rukia and Renji both looked up at this, with a bit of hope returning to their eyes.

"-I couldn't just leave you two. Without you guys I would never have been able to survive. So where you guys go, I will. If you are staying, so am I," finished Ichigo.

The response he expected was some yelling, maybe a punch from Renji and a kick in the shin from Rukia. He was not expecting to be hugged by Rukia and a happy sigh from Renji, who didn't move from where he was standing.

"Oh, thank goodness you are staying, I don't know what we would have done without you here, we really thought you would jump at the chance to leave," Rukia said into his shoulder.

Unsure of what to do at the closeness with Rukia, Ichigo slowly closed his arms around her, and he leaned down so her feet were back on the ground. Her grip didn't loosen, so he didn't let go either, as Renji walked up to them.

"Wow Rukia, I guess even you can be girly when you want to be," Renji said.

Rukia went stiff in Ichigo's arms. Then she pinched him.

"OW!" Ichigo shouted, surprised by the sudden pain. "What the he-"

Renji punched him in the shoulder, cutting off his yell at Rukia.

Still hugging him, Rukia scolded him saying, "That was for messing with us. We really were worried you would leave us. Don't do that again, we won't hold back next time."

Calming down, Ichigo slightly tightened his hug, and said, "Yes ma'am. I swear I won't do that again."

Laughing as she pulled away, she wiped her eyes of unshed tears. Renji then slapped his back, saying,

"Good to know you are staying with us, I don't know how you would do without me saving your ass!"

"Right, then why did you hang your head as I was telling you the good things about leaving? I bet you were more worried than Rukia was," Ichigo countered.

"No, of course I wasn't! I just let you think you tricked me! No way you could get one over me!" Renji said, trying to defend himself as he looked away from Ichigo.

"Of course not, What ever was I thinking."

"Anyway, let's head home, we have something to show you ad the kids back at the base."

The three started heading back home, with Ichigo wondering what it was they were going to show him.

**The Base**

Ichigo sat with the rest of the kids on the ground of the base, with Renji and Rukia standing up in front of them. Renji started them off, "Alright everyone, you all heard about what happened to us when we went out into the town. Ichigo fainted on us as we saw a shinigami."

The kids laughed at this, as Ichigo cursed at Renji under his breathe.

"The soul reaper told us we should leave here and go to the Shinigami Academy, but all three of us decided to stay."

The kids were more than happy to hear the news, looking at the two people standing with hope in their eyes for the future. With their three main protectors staying, things were looking good for them.

"And while we were waiting for Strawberry over here, we figured out how to form some of our reiatsu. Behold!" Renji proclaimed, holding out his hand.

For a moment there was nothing, just the sounds of grunting that Renji made from concentrating on his hand. Then a dim light started to form above his hand. The pale blue light grew in size until it was about the size of a baseball, floating above Renji's hand.

The kids looked on in awe at Renji for a few seconds. Then Rukia coughed, bringing everyone's attention to her. Above her hand was a similar ball, but larger, about the size of her head. Not only that, no one heard her doing it, and Ichigo noticed how her breathing was normal, unlike Renji's ragged breathing, so it must have been easier for her.

Of course the little kids didn't care about that, Rukia's orb was bigger, therefore better, and they swarmed around her, wanting to know how to do it. Renji had a few guys come up to him, which he was happy enough with, though he seemed a little mad Rukia stole his spotlight.

Not sure of whom to go to, he decided Renji needed the support, so he walked over to the small group around him, joining them.

"So hot shot, care to explain how you did that?" Ichigo asked Renji, knowing he couldn't resist showing off.

"Well Ichigo, my friend, it is really quite simple, though I can understand why someone like you don't know how to do it, being so easily knocked out by the soul reaper today."

Ichigo ignored the insult, and waited for Renji to explain.

"All you have to do is focus your reiastu into your hand, and then it will form into a ball all on its own."

"My reiastu?"

"I thought you might not know what that was. Simply put, reiastu is the spirit energy the physical pressure that a persons reiryoku creates when released. Reiryoku is the energy that all living beings and souls have, but when people have higher than normal reiryoku, like yours truly, they can do awesome things, like what I did."

"So I just have to focus this energy into my hand?"

"Yep, that simple, but don't be surprised if you cant do it your first time, or at all, few people out here can."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Calming himself down, Ichigo put out his hand and focused on moving his reiastu into his hand. At first nothing happened, then he felt a warmth move from the rest of his body to his hand. Doing his best to draw out all the warmth and move it to his hand, he kept his eyes closed in concentration.

After about a minute, he heard Rukia gasp. Opening his eyes, he saw a ball about twice the size as Rukia's. The massive ball sat inches from his hand, but he couldn't really feel anything coming off of it, despite the warmth he felt moving to his hand before.

"Wow. Nice job Strawberry, I really taught you well, didn't I," Renji said. He didn't want to admit it, but both Ichigo and Rukia kind of pissed him off today, being able to effortlessly draw up their spirit energy like that, and so much too. He didn't care enough to say something about it, but he wouldn't forget it either.

Rukia however was just impressed, she wasn't too surprised that Ichigo's orb was bigger than hers, but not by that much. Now, she was happy that he had planed to stay, more so than before. Looking at Renji, she could see the frustration hidden behind his smile and gloating, and she hoped nothing would come from it.

Ichigo stopped concentrating and the orb disappeared from existence. Then the kids, who were cheering for him, swamped him and bombarding him with both praises and questions.

The day ended on that happy note, with Ichigo earning some followers from the kids at their base. They had decided to sleep around Ichigo, much to his displeasure, and Rukia and Renji's enjoyment.

Closing his eyes, Ichigo prepared to face his problems with the knowledge that he was truly no longer alone.

**A week later**

A week had passed since the three friends ran into the soul reaper, and they had truly solidified their friendship that day in the ally. It was as if all was right in the world for them, despite where they were.

Now they were back out in Inuzuri, bringing some water back for the kids. They even managed to rummage (steal) some food for them too. Then for the first time in a while, they were surrounded by some older teens.

"Y'all 'ave been 'ere long 'nough to know what we want. Hand over da water and nobody need ta get 'urt." The thug said, a slight accent changing some of the words, but the three understood enough.

Renji, who was on protection duty, as usual, turned and looked back at Ichigo, who looked at Rukia. They nodded to each other, as Rukia and Ichigo placed the water on the ground, knowing they would be able to get it back soon.

Cracking his neck, Renji glared at the thug who threatened them. "No. Now move and let us by, or you will get hurt."

This made the thugs laugh, with the apparent leader speaking up again, saying, "You three, 'urt us? Don makes me laugh!"

Renji then charged the laughing man, setting off the groups first real fight in a while.

Rukia had three men surround her, leering at her. She didn't care though; knowing the other two would not let these men touch her.

Renji had tackled the leader to the ground, as two of his lackeys came up to support him, one in front, and one behind Renji.

Ichigo got the last four around him. He calmly took in the situation, looking more at his friends than his enemies, making sure he did nothing to hinder them. One of the thugs in front of him made the first move, throwing a haphazard punch and the younger teen. Ichigo snapped into action, grabbing the guy's arm and pulling him into one of his comrades. With two men temporarily out of the fight, Ichigo rounded on the man to his left, the furthest from Rukia and Renji, and kicked at him.

The kick landed on the mans thigh, and Ichigo followed up by pivoting 360 degrees, and kicking the man in the ribs as he turned around back to face him.

The two other thugs recovered from Ichigo's opening move right after he put down his first thug. Dodging the man behind him, Ichigo grabbed him, and threw him over his shoulder, on top of the incapacitated thug, knocking out a second man.

The other two decided to attack together, one going with a high punch, aimed at Ichigo's face, the other kicking out to Ichigo's shin, hoping to trap him into taking at least one hit. The plan failed when he caught the punch, and stepped on the man's leg, preventing them from moving.

Glancing toward Renji, who had taken out one of the lackeys, Ichigo push the man whose punch he had caught at the other lackey, so Renji could take on the leader alone.

Mustering most of his strength, Ichigo forced the man flying backwards, and into the second lackey, taking them both out, as Renji shifted his focus to the leader. Looking down at the terrified and trapped man, Ichigo swiftly kicked the thug in the jaw, knocking him out.

Turning back to Rukia, he saw her knock out the last man with a punch to the diaphragm, and then she stood up and walked over to pick the water she had back up, having complete faith that the other two were wrapping up their fights.

Renji knock the leader out with his stick, with a fast and hard hit to the head. Turning to face the other's he said, "Good job you two, I think you almost caught up to my body count this time."

"You do know I took down half of them right?" Ichigo asked, knowing how Renji would respond.

"Yeah, but I took out their leader, so he counts for like four himself, right?" Renji predictably responded.

"How do you figure he was the leader, because he talked to us?" Ichigo countered as he picked his water back up, and started to head back to the base.

"No, because he was the biggest one there, clearly the leader."

"You know Rukia took out three of them in the time you got one, that has to count for something."

"Don't drag me into this Ichigo, you both know I have the highest take down count between all of us," Rukia responded.

"Well yeah, but that is because you have been here so much longer," Renji tried, "if we count since we joined up, I am pretty sure mine is higher."

"Renji, just stop before you annoy one of your betters," Rukia said dismissively.

"Better my ass, you couldn't even reach where I am if you tried!"

Their banter continued as they walked back to the base, the argument over nothing never truly getting resolved. Each of them knew that they had found a friendship that changed something in them, and it was for the better. They wouldn't change anything that had happened over the last six years, and that was something they were all proud of. Together, they thought they could take on the world.

It was fate that would put that to the test.

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I had some fun with changing how this happened in canon. I hope the scene is recognizable. This chapter was important, so I tried to make it come out well. First there was the full introduction of Soul Reapers, and an first real way of escape from the life in Inuzuri. Then we had the introduction of spiritual energy, and our three heroes showing off how much they can use at the moment. Finally we had a group fight, to show how much has changed for the three since the time skip between the two chapters. I wanted Ichigo to have an unfounded fear of working in a group that he will slowly work out of, starting at this point.

I hope you all liked how this chapter turned out, and I am going to thank the wikia, without which I wouldn't have been able to define reiatsu, or spell it for that matter. (I am a horrific speller).

Anyway, do not forget to vote on Ichigo's future squad, I am going to continue to harp on this until the poll is closed, so get used to reading about it.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you will again

-Jimba


	6. Abrupt Changes

Welcome back to Learning in the Afterlife. Sorry this took so long, but there were several reasons for it. First, was the length and difficulty of writing this chapter. Then, I underestimated just how much homework I would be doing for two summer semester classes and my lab. It is a lot simply put. I think I have spent about six hours this week doing homework, which is much more than I normally do. Anyway I found time to write, and here you all are.

The voting has been going well, though I am getting a little confused by the review votes, sometimes I can't tell if you have voted or haven't, so I am counting all of it, because that is easier. To the numbers!  
Squad 8: 9  
Squad 10: 7  
Squad 2: 5  
Squad 13: 3  
Others: 0

I believe those numbers are correct. So if you want to give your input, the poll is still open. I would also ask if you could give me reasons for why you want Ichigo to go where, it was interesting to see why they thought he should go to second squad, so feel free to give me your thoughts, because I will read them. on that note, thank you **artfrogy, Harbinger of Kaos, The Unknown ShiniGami, Arrankor**, and **BlackRedWhite** for your input.

Also, feel free to tell me who you wan Ichigo paired with, or who you don't, I am interested in your thoughts on that too, the ones I have read so far were surprisingly insightful. I also want to see if anyone can guess who I have in mind, not that I will tell you all yet, because I am an evil man.

Also, I am going to explain why I had Ichigo faint here, since someone (you know who you are) wanted clarification, which is fine, I admit it was confusing. So, form what I understood from the anime, Rukia was about to faint when they encountered the Shinigami about to leave from Inuzuri, than she has the highest reiatsu between herself and Renji. So I had Ichigo faint because he had more than her. It was my understanding that they do not have a fully developed spirit energy like an actual Shinigami would, so they could not stand up to him, regardless of the amount of reiatsu they had. Simply put, because Ichigo had the most reiatsu, his undeveloped spiritual pressure mad him more susceptible to the Soul Reaper's own spirit energy, which is what caused him to pass out.

There you have it, I hope that makes sense. If you are worried about Ichigo being weak, don't be, he is my protagonist, so even if he isn't always the strongest, he will continue to grow until he is.

I believe that was everything for up here. So please enjoy this chapter, and follow, favorite, or review of you want to.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach

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Another four years have passed since the departure of the soul reaper and the trio of friends has grown again. Renji has grown to a full six foot retaining his title as the tallest of the three. Ichigo, under him, grew to about five foot nine. Other than their height, the two boys have changed very little, maybe a bit more muscular, but they have retained the lean bodies they had four years ago. Rukia, much to Renji's increasing enjoyment, grew about three inches, stopping around four foot eight. She has become a little more womanly, gaining some slight curves to her form, which has begun to distract the boys, not that they would admit it.

They have stayed close to each other, maintaining their protection of those in Inuzuri who would be unable to survive alone. Fortunately the number has stayed around the same for the last decade, with kids leaving on their own making room for others.

The base had also gone unchanged since Ichigo arrived, the walls still held barely together, and the roof still had a hole, but it was a home now, for Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji at least.

Ichigo was currently watching the base alone, unusual for sure, but not unheard of, sometimes they were short supplies, requiring two to leave to pick them up. Rukia said they needed more water, and Renji volunteered immediately, so Ichigo remained with a handful of older kids to protect their home

They day started off normally enough, the sun rose, Rukia and Renji left about an hour ago, and the sun began to set. Though Ichigo was concerned for his friends, he knew they could handle themselves, so he calmly waited their return.

Then a familiar howl was heard, much closer than ever before. The little kids began to huddle together, a normal reaction for their apparent age.

"It is okay everyone, Hollows never come this close to the Seireitei. Just calm down, and everything will be okay," Ichigo said, trying his best to calm the others.

Sitting back down, he took a deep breath to calm himself; hollows unnerved even him. Thinking back on it, he hadn't seen a hollow since the night he died and that memory had faded to just the mask with the jagged smile. The memory sent a shiver down his spine, and he hoped to never see a hollow again.

Then they heard the roar again, much louder, and much closer.

"Stay calm, I will go out and see how close it is, stay inside," Ichigo told the younger kids. Turning to the older ones, he advised, "I am going out there, get ready to run if it is there and too close, I will do my best to keep it away from you. Keep the youngest close to you, and you all will be safe."

Facing the younger kids again, he told them, "Listen to the older kids. Stay out of sight, and stay safe. We will get out of this together, just like always."

The little kids seemed reassured by that, but Ichigo wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or not. Swallowing his fear, he walked out the door.

He couldn't see anything like a hollow outside.

Walking around the base, he still had not seen anything worth fighting or running from. Still, he thought that walking around a bit longer wouldn't hurt, and it would help calm him down, which would calm down the younger kids.

After two revolutions around the base without seeing anything, Ichigo decided the coast was clear. He hoped the soul reapers had gotten to the hollow, since he neither saw nor heard the monster since he walked outside.

Releasing a sigh of relief, Ichigo headed back to the door. Right as he was about to open the door to give the all clear, an earth quaking roar sounded, right behind him.

The only sound Ichigo could make was a quiet curse, "Shit."

Spinning around, he found himself face to mask of a large monster, that looked something like a lizard crossed with an ape, with a pure white mask, except the thick line of black going vertically down the center of the mask. The Hollow's mouth was left open, its mouth giving off some sort of white gas. The rest of its body was made of dark brown scales, with a slight sheen reflecting some of the light from the sun.

Crouching slightly in preparation of his first move, Ichigo examined the hollow closely, hoping for a hint of what to do to stay alive. He knew its long arms would give the hollow a long reach, and the large muscles suggested his punches were powerful. The Hollow's short legs gave Ichigo the idea it would be slow and clumsy when moving on two feet.

His plan of action was to run quickly, hoping the hollow couldn't keep up. It wasn't much of a plan, but he didn't have much time.

Sprinting to the side, he had expected the hollow to follow, so he moved for a few seconds before checking over his shoulder.

To his horror, the hollow ignored him for now, and brought one of its arms back to knock down the door.

Mind going into over drive, Ichigo spotted a rock, and grabbed it. Focusing on the hollow's arm, Ichigo threw the rock as hard as he could. The rock rocketed from his hand, finding its target and piercing the monster's arm, right under the shoulder.

The Hollow roared in pain, and then looked for the source of its new wound. Spotting Ichigo, it moved on all fours towards his new prey. Roaring once again, the beast sprinted.

Surprised by the speed of the hollow, Ichigo barely dodged the swipe. Backing up, Ichigo was now in between the hollow and the base. Drawing his stick, Ichigo braced himself.

The hollow roared in frustration, turn back around to face the human. Then the monster charged Ichigo again.

Like a matador, Ichigo moved away from the hollow, and as it flew by, he turned around and struck the thing on the outside of its leg.

The hollow skidded to a stop, and spun around, trying to catch Ichigo off guard by running off the side, before bearing back down on him.

Expecting another charge, Ichigo prepared himself.

The hollow quickly approached, and the came to a sudden stop and punching at Ichigo.

Unprepared for the sudden change in tactic, Ichigo could only attempt to block with his thin stick.

Fist met wood, and unfortunately for Ichigo, the fist won, breaking through the stick, and catching him in the stomach.

Ichigo felt himself being lifted off the ground, and sent flying backwards through the air. Then he felt himself run into the wall of the base, which broke apart from the force of his body. Continuing on through the air, he went through the other side of the base, landing maybe ten feet back outside.

His world went black to the sounds of terror from the kids inside the base.

**Sometime later**

Ichigo snapped his eyes open immediately after he regained consciousness.

"Ichigo! Ichigo, calm down!" he heard a voice say. How could he stay calm, there was a hollow right outside, he needed to move.

Trying to get off the ground, he felt someone hold him down, keeping him there.

"Calm down you idiot!"

Struggling, Ichigo was suddenly struck across the face, snapping his head to the side.

"Get a grip!"

"Renji! That isn't going to help."

"What do you want me to do, he isn't listening?"

"I don't know, just…just, I don't know."

During the small argument, Ichigo had managed to calm down enough to notice he wasn't near the base. Not only that, the sky was dark, so some time had past since he was knocked out.

"Ichigo, are you with us?" Rukia asked.

He could only nod.

Getting a clear look at her, he saw that her face had tears on it, and her eyes were red. Renji had walked away from them, and had his back to them, so Ichigo couldn't tell what was wrong, though he had an idea.

"What is wrong? Why are you crying?" Ichigo quietly asked her.

"Ichigo, I don't know where to begin," she said, trying to keep herself together. "We were on our way back to the base when we heard the hollow roar. It took us half an hour to get back, and when we did, we saw two soul reapers fighting a hollow. The base was destroyed, and you were laid out behind the soul reapers."

"What about the others, are they safe?" Ichigo asked desperately.

Rukia's eyes watered as she shook her head, crushing Ichigo.

He felt like he let everyone down. He didn't know what to do, or say to Rukia, or Renji for that matter. What can you say to someone who just lost every thing?

"Renji…I…I am sorry. I couldn't protect them."

Renji didn't move for a moment, so Ichigo looked down.

When he did, Renji quickly turned around and ran towards Ichigo. Hearing the noise, Ichigo looked up, only to be hit in the chin by Renji's foot.

"Renji!" Rukia yelled, surprised by his sudden action.

He ignored her, and advanced on the downed orange-headed teen.

"Sorry? What does you being sorry do? They are all gone, dead. The building is destroyed, and we have nothing left!" Renji yelled at Ichigo, pulling him up from the ground by his shirt. "So let me ask you again. What does your sorry do?"

"Renji! Let him go!" Rukia pleaded.

"No, he needs to hear this," Renji said, brushing her aside. "They do nothing. You are lucky to be alive. You think I am mad at you? You fought a hollow and survived. I am mad at the hollow, not you."

Ichigo, though helped by the words, still looked away.

Renji pushed him away, allowing him to stand on his own. Rukia walked up next to him, doing her best to remain calm.

"Ichigo, I want to know what you were thinking when you fought that…monster," she demanded.

"I was thinking I could get it away from the others, so they could get to safety," he responded emotionlessly. "Clearly it didn't work," he said more to himself, though Rukia still heard.

Then she smacked him on the back of the head.

"You are acting as if your life is less important than the others. How do you think we would feel if you died instead?" her tears threatened to fall again as she rebuked him.

"I wasn't thinking about that, their safety was all I was thinking about."

She hit him again.

"Stop that!" he yelled at her, rubbing his head

"No! Not until you understand why we are doing this!" she yelled back. "You don't seem to realize we aren't blaming you, you are the only one blaming yourself. So stop!"

"Who else can I blame? I told them to stay until it was safe! If I hadn't, maybe they would have lived!"

"You don't know that! Blame the hollow if you have to, but not yourself! You are better than that" Rukia replied, mumbling at the end.

"Am I? The hollow would have followed me; I should have just run after I had its attention, then everyone else would have been left alive. Instead, I stayed around to fight, for no reason."

Renji had heard enough.

"Ichigo," he said calmly, "all you are telling us is that you are guilty. Yes, we are sad, yes, we will miss them, but there is no need for you to blame yourself."

"Right, you need to take a deep breath, and then think clearly. Worrying about the what ifs, should haves, and if onlys will get you nowhere, trust me," Rukia said, backing up Renji.

Looking down, Ichigo nodded.

They stayed in silence for a while, Ichigo couldn't tell how much time had passed, since he was still in an emotional turmoil. Still something was bothering him.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

He didn't look up when he asked, but he could tell the others had thought about it from their lack of reaction. He waited in silence for one of them to respond.

"We were planning on doing what tat Shinigami told us to do. Do you remember?" Rukia finally responded, earning a small nod from Ichigo.

"So you are going to the Seireitei then?" He asked

"All of us are, you included." Renji answered for her, "And you don't get a say in the matter. We are planning on leaving first thing in the morning."

"Why would you-"

Renji punching him interrupted his question.

"I am going to stop you before you say something stupid. You are our friend, and we want you to come with us, and I decided for you that you are. Let's try to get some sleep."

They walked away from the remains of the building that they once called home, and wandered into the night, looking for a place to sleep and try to relieve some of there grief. No words were spoken during the entire search, since none of them knew what to say to the others.

Finding an alley was easy enough, though they kept on walking, trying to tire themselves out, so that sleep would come easily, or rather, easier. Finally, Rukia lead them into an ally, and they started to lie down.

At first they were separated, Ichigo near the back, Renji near the entrance, and Rukia in between them about an equal distance from both of them.

Ichigo tried to fall asleep, but he just could not. Whenever he closed his eyes, he would see the mask of the hollow, or the fearful look of the kids in the base before he left. Instead he just lay there, looking up at the sky, and then turning onto his side to look at his friends.

He could tell Renji wasn't asleep; the lack of snoring gave that away. Rukia, however, he wasn't sure. She was a silent sleeper, and the slow movements of he chest going up and down weren't helping him figure it out.

She suddenly got up, and looked around, first towards Ichigo, then Renji. Ichigo watched on silently as she seemed to be deciding something. Looking back and forth between the two, she seemed to have come to a decision. She walked over towards Ichigo.

"Hey," her quiet voice rang out, "do you mind if I sleep a little close to you tonight?"

Despite wanting to be alone, there was only one answer he could give.

"Go ahead."

Slowly, she came back down to the floor, close to Ichigo.

They stayed like that in silence, for an amount of time that Ichigo wasn't sure of. Then Rukia asked one more thing.

"Are you going to stay with us? We really want you to come with us, but you don't have too," she asked him quietly, so Renji couldn't hear the response.

Ichigo didn't respond for a while, thinking about his answer. He wasn't sure if he should go, his decision back at the base cost them the lives of their friends. Was it worth the risk again? After all, he did survive on his own before, would it be different now?

Then he remembered why he stayed with them, how Renji could make him laugh, how Rukia's remarks would give him something to think about. Could he leave them all behind, just because he was afraid?

Ichigo knew the answer to that.

"I am staying with you both, for as long as I can."

He wasn't expecting to feel Rukia's hand in his, but he wasn't going to complain. Right now, the feeling of having someone there for him, wanting him to be around, felt much better than the guilt he felt before.

From the slight trembles in Rukia's hand, he knew he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Looking at her, he could see her shoulders shaking.

"Oh, Ichigo, thank kami you are staying with us. I know Renji will be glad to have you still with us too."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile at that. He knew he had to get Rukia to smile too.

"I'm sure he will too, after if he doesn't have a heart attack seeing us holding hands," he quietly joked.

The soft slap to his head told him she was smiling now.

"He doesn't need to know, anyway. You don't mind it do you?"

"Only a little."

"Good, I wouldn't want you too comfortable."

"Thanks."

"Anytime Berry."

They laughed quietly together as their feelings of grief slowly started to go away. Ichigo knew he had made the right choice. Giving her hand a light squeeze, he said, "Thank you Rukia. I will see you in the morning."

"You too Ichigo."

He still stayed awake for a good while, thinking of what had happened today. Though he knew he would always remember what had happened, he vowed for the first time in nearly a decade, that he would become strong enough to protect his friends, and if becoming a Shinigami would do that, then that is what he would do.

Closing his eyes, still feeling Rukia's hand in his, he finally was able to fall asleep.

**The Next Morning**

Blinking his eyes open, Ichigo found himself staring at the sky as the sun began to rise, the colors changing as the morning began.

He looked over to Rukia, since he was still holding her hand. She was quietly breathing in and out, still asleep. Smiling to himself, he stayed there for a moment to get his bearings. He wasn't exactly sure where they slept; his mind was in a haze most of the day yesterday.

Letting go of Rukia's hand, and gently placing it on the ground, Ichigo walked over to Renji.

"Hey."

"How'd you know I was awake?"

"You weren't snoring."

"Oh, I guess that would do it."

Silence fell between them, and Ichigo felt that he had to ask a question.

"Are you sure you want to leave here?" He asked

Renji sighed, before sitting up. Then he slowly began.

"Do you remember what we said when we ran into that Shinigami?"

Ichigo nodded.

"We agreed that since the other's needed our help, we were staying. But now, I have no reason to be here, those kids were like my family, now I just have you two. I don't want to stay here, and that Soul Reaper planted a way out in my head years ago. So yes, I am sure I want to leave."

Ichigo couldn't help but agree with Renji. With no one to protect here, why should they stay. It was just an added bonus that they could help others by slaying hollows really.

"So when do you want to leave?" Ichigo asked.

"As soon as we are all up, so we are just waiting for midget over there."

Ichigo was just about to walk away, when Renji quietly spoke again.

"You know, now we can have our revenge on her from all the times she woke us up? I know what I want to do."

Renji quietly headed over to Rukia, trying to be as stealthy as he could. Creeping over, he has just begun to lean over to yell in her ear.

Suddenly, she screamed and punched him in the jaw.

"Renji, what were you doing, you scared me!"

Renji was laid out on the ground next to her; unable to talk at the moment, so Ichigo thought he would help his friend.

"Well, Renji just wanted some revenge for all the times you woke us up violently," he supplied.

"Oh, is that so?" Rukia asked threateningly. "And I was just about to apologize, but you can forget that. Well, let's get going, I believe we were going to leave when everyone was up. Get up Renji, let's go."

Rukia walked off as Renji got off the ground. Falling in step behind her, Ichigo had to ask, "So any idea of how long this is going to take?"

"Nope," Renji responded.

"Do you know where we are heading?"

"North."

"That isn't very specific."

"Stop complaining, and let's get going," Rukia demanded.

And so they went heading to the Seireitei.

**A week later**

They had just arrived at district 77 after a week of none stop walking, with only a few hours of sleep each day.

The three we frustrated, but they continued on, in hopes of getting to their destination.

There was little to do on the road, and their conversations had dried up over the first day, so the rest of the week was filled mostly with silence.

Ichigo started to think back to the hollow attack, his thoughts slowly headed back to where they were before talking to both Renji and Rukia. The guilt he felt was coming back, but to a lesser degree than before.

As they walked through the district, they found it to be about the same as things were in Inuzuri, awful.

They marched on regardless, with the hope of the Seireitei being better than thing were here the only thought keeping them moving.

**A month later**

After about a month, they had reached district fifty. After being reintroduced to footwear in district 59, the three had managed to procure some shoes for themselves. Now they were at least more comfortable.

For the past month travelling had been fairly quiet, up until they got to district 50. The change in the area was so remarkable to them. There were no ruins, no thugs, and no murderers. The place was relatively clean, and there were no destitute children laying around in the street hoping for help.

There were more shops, more food, and more water than any of them had seen before.

Ichigo's thoughts that had returned to his perceived failure during the hollow attack were no occupied with everything he saw as they headed closer to the center of the soul society.

He had found that each day was easier now, the insidious thoughts of failure coming less and less. Happily, he began to talk to the others more, trying to fill the air with talking and laughter, if only to leave behind the oppressive grief filled silence for another moment.

Even Renji had started acting more like himself as the left the poorer districts of the Rukongai behind. He started to joke again, and started to boast a little too.

Rukia was a little more uncomfortable at first when they entered the cleaner districts. Ichigo understood though, she had spent the most time in Inuzuri, and it was all she knew. This new area was much different from where they came from. Still, after getting over her shock, she seemed happy again, though she still wanted to continue on.

With higher spirits that before the three journeyed onwards.

**One more month later**

Standing in the middle of the market, the group was in awe. They had reached the Seireitei. Fortunately for them, as they got closer, the districts started to be closer together, and the roads were much better, which improved their travel time considerably.

Now, they were unsure of what to do. They had made it, but they were unsure of where to go. Rukia had left the boys behind, with plans of asking around, while Ichigo and Renji were tasked with getting some food.

They were not expecting the way they were looked at by those from the district. The style of dress had improved slowly as they progressed through the Soul Society, but the increase in the last five or so was much different from the others. They all stood out in their rags, but the lack of money so far had prevented them from changing any clothes.

They survived by using their skills they gained in Inuzuri, but they didn't steal anything here. Fortunately for them they found an older looking women who gave them some food. She also confirmed that they were in the right district to join the Shinigami academy.

When they met up with Rukia, she told them they had to take a test in two days to gain entrance to the Academy. Renji all but pissed himself at the thought of a test at first, then his bravado came back, and he insisted he would pass with flying colors.

Then Rukia told them about how the classes were separated, with the first class for advanced students, and the rest of them for the others.

"I hope I get into the advanced class," Ichigo said

"I know I will," Renji boasted.

"I don't really care as long as we are together," Rukia finished.

"Then all you have to do is try to catch me!" Renji laughed.

"I think I will beat you Renji," Ichigo said coolly.

"The hell you will!"

They joked into the night, as they got ready for the next part of their life.

**The day of the test**

The moment of truth had come. After registering for the exam, the potential students were put into a room together, with a person called up for their individual exam one at a time.

Renji had already been called up, so Ichigo and Rukia sat alone in the back, away from the nobles in the front.

Rukia was nervously fidgeting in her seat. Ichigo had enough of listening to her chair squeaking as she moved. So he spoke up, saying, "Rukia, you are going to be fine. No matter where we go, we will be together. Stop worry, it is going to make you do worse on your test. Relax, and you will do fine. Remember, you have more reiastu than Renji does."

His words seemed to calm her for a bit, and she started to breathe easier. Smiling to himself, Ichigo relaxed too. He didn't say it, be he was nervous too, and he hoped Rukia couldn't tell.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," an examiner called.

Standing up, he offered Rukia a final smile, before heading into the room to take the test.

Inside he found four people, seated behind a table, and an open chair for him to sit in.

Sitting down, he awaited for them to start. The one that did was a tan bald man with glasses.

"Welcome. I will keep this short so we can get this underway. First, we will test you for your Reiastu and your Reiryoku, then if you pass that, will be an aptitude test to see if you will be a good soul reaper, and if you pass that, we will place you according to your scores. Any questions?"

Ichigo shook his head.

"Good, let us begin."

The test to find his reiastu was similar to what they did back in Inuzuri. His ball of energy had grown much like he had since then, which cause three of the examiners to remark at how much there was, will the bald man sat in silence.

With the basic test done and passed, he was pointed in the direction of the written part.

Prepared for what was coming, Ichigo started to think of the future, and how he and his friends would do. He knew they could all do it, his confidence in his friends gave him confidence in himself. Stepping through the door for the last hurdle of this particular trial, Ichigo was ready for the uncertain future he face.

* * *

And here we are again, at the end of the chapter. I realize this one kind of went on, but I wanted to have the transition to be over in one chapter.

Now, I want to clear up something before I get a complaint about it. Yes, I do realize Ichigo killed the first hollow he fought in canon, but he had a sword there, and a stick here. If he did have a sword the fight would have gone differently, that hit to the leg is proof. I didn't want to have Ichigo start out invincible, he needs to grow, and to do that he needs to fail. Also, if you think he was whiny after that, I am sorry, but he did just lose everything but Rukia and Renji, and it is his nature to try to protect things, and since he failed, I thought he would feel guilty over it. And if you thought he got over it too fast, do not worry, it will come back eventually, I have plans.

So that is it for this chapter. I think I will be able to get them out weekly because of my classes, but do not hold me to that, summer classes are crazy. I hope you all enjoyed, don't forget to vote on which squad Ichigo should join, and as always, thank you for reading, and I will catch you all next time

-Jimba


	7. A New Place to Learn

Welcome back to Learning in the Afterlife. I got this update done early, and editing it went quickly enough, so I hope you enjoy, and that I didn't miss any glaring mistakes while editing. Anyway, this chapter was very fun to write, so I hope you all enjoy thick quick update. On to the votes.

So I have noticed a drop in votes, which is a bummer, we are almost there, so please vote on the poll on my profile if you haven't, and feel free to tell me why you want Ichigo to go to whatever squad in a review or a private message, I read them all and I enjoy your input. That being said, to the numbers.

Squad 8: 9 votes  
Squad 10: 7 votes  
Squad 2: 6 votes  
Squad 13: 4 votes  
Squad 4: 1 vote  
The other squads: 0

I suppose I should not complain, the people who have voted usually give a reason now, so you all have my thanks, you know who you are. There weren't any questions I think I need to answer from last chapter, but I encourage you to ask if something doesn't make sense.

Also, if you could keep on sending in your ideas for a pairing with Ichigo, I would be thankful. Each time you do you make me think about something new, so keep them coming. Shout out to, **KazumaKaname, artfrogy, TitansLegion, **and **hornet07. **A special shout out to hornet07, he has been commenting since back at chapter 2 I believe, so thank you very much for your continued input.

Two more thing, then you can get to the good stuff. First, I am going to get rid of some of the unused squad choices tomorrow, so anything that hasn't been mentioned before, not necessarily the ones with no votes (someone talked about squad 11), will be gone then, so you have until tomorrow to vote for them, they are: Squad 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12. to be honest I should have just taken off squad 12, I never would have written that one. Hoenstly, the only one there I am surprised that has no votes is Squad 6, but hey, that is just me.

Second is concerning one of the pairings that I have been told to **not** do, which is Rukia and Ichigo. Because of the way I have written this so far, they are like siblings, so people who don't want to see them together are telling me it would be weird for them to start dating because of how close they are. To those people, I agree, so it is unlikely Ichigo will end up with her, but in case I can't figure out how to get in another romance, there are going to be a few moments (I believe there is one this chapter too) that look like they are going to be a pair, just so if the pairing happens it doesn't come out of no where. Fear not, it is just to show how close they are for now. I don't know if any of you have siblings, but they will touch you without warning whenever they want, for whatever reason they want. My sister will pull pieces of hair off my face without warning, and I spaz out when she does it. So there, I am planning on doing a more unusual pairing for this story, I just have to figure out how to do it.

So that is everything that is everything, I think. Please enjoy this chapter, and as always, follow, favorite, or review if you think the story deserves any of them.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach

* * *

Ichigo sighed. It had been half an hour since he finished his test, and Rukia hadn't come out of the testing room yet. He was beginning to worry about her. He knew she would do well, but her nerves may have hindered her. However, he knew there was nothing he could do about it now.

Sighing again, he tuned back to whatever Renji was talking about now.

"…Yeah, my test went well, so well I am sure I am getting into the advanced class. Don't worry if you don't my friend, I will tell you all about it. And even if you do, I will help you out, I know things will be difficult for someone like you to understand,"

Renji rattled on, laughing at his own jokes along the way.

He had been talking almost non-stop since Ichigo sat down in the assembly hall next to him. For the most part Ichigo ignored him, not that Renji either noticed or stopped talking.

One good thing that came from Renji's loud rambling was that everyone was avoiding them. So Ichigo sat alone next to Renji, not that he minded, though he could do without he loud talking to his side, ignoring him while waiting on Rukia.

He was switching between listening to his friend continue to brag on about something, worrying about Rukia doing well on her test, and thinking about his future as a soul reaper.

Concerning his last thought, he was pretty sure he did well, the aptitude test was fairy easy, it was hard for him to tell though, and he knew he impressed at least three of the for examiners with his reiatsu, so he was good there. So he wondered how far he could go. Seated officer? Maybe, but he wouldn't get his hopes up yet.

The door from the test opened again, and another random kid walked out. Ichigo sighed in disappointment, catching Renji's attention.

"What are you sighing about now, we both know Rukia is going to be fine. There were a lot of people in there, so she probably hasn't taken hers yet," Renji said.

Ichigo had to admit he was right.

"Or maybe you were worried about not doing as good as me. Not uncommon, I know you have been envious of me ever…" Renji started once again.

Closing his eyes as he once again ignored his friend, Ichigo tried waiting in silence for Rukia. Whether if it was for her to get there because she passed the test or to shut Renji up he couldn't quite tell.

Ichigo sat in the near meditative state for another ten minutes before he felt someone gently tap his shoulder. Then someone else not so gently punch his arm.

"Renji, you knew I was about to open my eyes, right?" Ichigo asked, keeping his eye closed.

"You haven't yet, so I may try again," Renji replied, and Ichigo could hear the smirk in his voice.

Finally opening his eyes, he saw Rukia standing there, staring back at him. No one said anything for about twenty seconds.

Renji couldn't stand the quiet. "Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" She returned, her face devoid of any emotion.

"How'd it go?"

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yes."

"Well my test went fantastic, as I said it would. Did you know the examiners said I was amazing, not that I expected any less, and another thing-"

Ichigo hit him the arm, silencing him, saying, "Yes Renji, I do know, you have been telling me for almost an hour."

Ignoring Renji's indignant look, Ichigo turned to face Rukia. "Define fine."

"I got through to here," She responded after stifling her laughter from her two friend's interaction.

"Could you be anymore specific?"

"I could."

"Well, don't leave us hanging Midget, spill it."

She frowned at the jab at her height that Renji's nickname for her held. Then, she smiled, and said, "I think it went well. After Ichigo reminded me of our first time showing off our reiatsu, I think I managed to calm down enough to get in the top class. Do you remember that day Renji?" she asked, a devious smile on her face.

"I don't know what you are talking about," He said, looking away from her.

"Oh really, I can remind you if you want." Her smile was just about to turn sadistic at this point.

"No, that is alright, no need to bring up those memories."

Rukia and Ichigo laughed, while Renji sulked. Ichigo had known Rukia would be able to stop Renji from talking, if only for a little while.

Using the newly created silence, Ichigo congratulated Rukia, saying, "Good job, I told you that you could do it."

Smiling, she turned to him, "I know, and at the time you were the only one who believed in me. Thank you for believing in me when I couldn't. You can thank me later for shutting Renji up later."

"Can't we just call it even there?" Ichigo asked, ignoring the rain cloud forming over Renji.

"Are you kidding, do you know how hard it is to keep him quiet like that, I should be asking for a thanks right now, and a favor too," she returned in jest.

"True, I guess I will have to settle for your first offer."

"I thought you would see it my way."

"You know I am right here, and I can hear you guys, right?" Renji asked, a look of hurt written across his face.

"You say something Renji? I forgot about you down there," Rukia said looking down at her nails, trying to not laugh.

"I hate you two." Renji said, going back to quietly sulking in his seat.

Rukia and Ichigo laughed and sat down, with Ichigo sitting between Rukia and Renji.

"Now it looks like we just have to wait for the test to be finished." Ichigo said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, though I was one of the last people to go, so it shouldn't be too much longer," Rukia stated.

"Good, I don't know how much more I could stand to be around you two," Renji whined, getting the other two to laugh.

They talked for a few more minutes, and waited for whatever came next.

Rukia's prediction cam true, and about twenty minutes later the bald man came out and walked onto the stage. The room quieted, and waited for the man to speak, the tension in the room building with every moment.

"Alright, listen up. I only want to say this once," his gruff voice rang out.

Whatever noise was left was instantly silenced.

"My name is Ōnabara Gengorō, the chief instructor of class one. I will first congratulate those of you here for making it this far, since all of you who are here have made it into the Academy. Now before you start cheering, there are some things we need to go over, so keep quiet and we will get this over with."

"First, there are uniforms in each of your dormitories, the guys' dorm is on the east the girls' is on the other side of the academy. You will be required to wear them for your entire stay an this establishment, so get used to them."

A few people groaned at this, though Ichigo had no idea why, he hadn't seen what they looked like.

"Speaking of dorms, you all will stay to your dorms, guys will stay at theirs, and the same for the girls. If you want to hang out with your friends, do so outside. I don't want to hear about any guy sneaking into the girls' dorm, are we clear?"

Despite their initial protesting, the rowdier guys could only nod at the not so subtle threat his question held.

"Good. The less important rules and expectations will be discussed later, and then you will be given a brief tour of the academy. Tomorrow you will begin your classes. I will call out your name now, and when called you are to head through the door, and down the hallway, you will find your class assignment there."

And so he began calling out the names, and the new students that were called went down to the door, then disappearing down the hallway. There didn't seem to be any order to it, the names jumping around the alphabet.

Soon enough the room was empty, except for thirty or so people left over, with Ichigo, Renji and Rukia still sitting together, waiting to be called.

Gengorō spoke up once again, "Now you all still here are in my class, Class one, congratulations. We have a high standard in this class, so you are the best this exam has to offer. I expect all of you to excel, and then join the Gotei 13 as seated officers at least. If you can't handle that, the door is there, and we can move you to an easier class."

No one moved, though when Ichigo looked at Renji he had to cover his mouth so he didn't laugh; the look of sheer terror that Renji was sporting almost caused him to lose it.

"I didn't think so," Gengorō continued. "We had one of the highest exam scores ever this year, so I am making sure you all do well, whether you think you can or not. We will meet up tomorrow when class starts, so be on time if you want to hold your place in the advanced class."

"You have the rest of the day to yourself, to celebrate you admittance to my class, or prepare for your worst nightmare, which ever you feel most appropriate. Do not forget the tour later today; you will want to know where to go for class. I will see you tomorrow."

With that, the man walked off the stage and out of sight, with a smile hidden from his now terrified students.

Nobody moved from their seats for a moment, trying to understand what all had just happened. Then Renji broke the silence.

"I think I just pissed myself a little."

Ichigo couldn't help himself this time, and started to laugh, followed quickly by Rukia.

With tension now lifted, the other students started to laugh too. They all laughed for a moment, then start to leave to room, to figure out where they were going to live, or to find where to eat, or to find their friends that didn't make the cut for the advanced class.

Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji were the last ones out, since Renji was embarrassed. He would have to watch he said from now on. Rukia and Ichigo were skeptical he could do it.

Walking together they headed towards were they hoped was food. Arriving, they got something to eat and sat down together.

Renji was, as always, the first to strike up a conversation.

"I told you I would get in the top class."

Rukia sighed, "Great, now we will never hear the end of it. Just when we had him quiet too."

Ichigo just smiled. They both decided to ignore Renji for now; they knew he could talk about himself for a while, without noticing any body was or was not paying attention.

"See," Ichigo started, "You really were worrying for nothing. Now we are all together in the advanced class. Happy?"

"I am, though our teacher is a little intimidating."

"True, but he does look like he knows how to teach us, so I am not worried about it."

"I wonder what out class will be like," Rukia said louder, trying to get Renji in the conversation now.

"I am sure I will do well in it, so you two can ask me for help when you need it," Renji said confidently.

"Yeah, if you can resist the urge to, what was it?" Rukia started.

"I believe it was pissing himself," Ichigo finished.

Renji blushed and looked away embarrassed, knowing he couldn't when this one.

"Whatever. To be honest I do think we are ready for this. Unlike most of the people here, we already know how to fight. I really want to know when we get to use a sword."

"You are such a man," Rukia sighed, as she shook her head.

"And don't you forget it."

"As if you could ever let us," Ichigo responded.

"Anyway," Rukia said as she rubbed her temples. "I doubt we will be doing anything with swords for a while. For now I think we should be concerned with the class itself."

"I agree," Ichigo backed her up. "Gengorō seems like a hard ass, I think we should get there early."

"Right," Renji said. "Maybe we should look for that tour now, I wouldn't want to make a bad first impression."

"Then I suggest you keeping your mouth shut at first," Rukia told him.

"Hey!" Renji shouted indignantly.

"Well, I am going to find that tour, you two can fight like an old married couple when I am gone," Ichigo said as he was leaving.

"Who would want to marry him?" Rukia asked hotly, getting up after Ichigo.

"I could do better," Renji said, though he was blushing.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rukia demanded of him.

"Oh nothing Midget. Let's go, Ichigo isn't waiting for us."

Rukia and Renji jogged to catch up with Ichigo, and the three walked together to the tour.

The tour wasn't much to talk about, a brief walk around the academy with an older student. The student would point things out as they walked, nothing too important, but helpful nonetheless. They did find out where the classes were held, and then they were sent away to spend the rest of the day relaxing, because soon they would have no real free time.

The afternoon came and went, and after walking around for an hour or two, night came. The three friends where standing outside the girls' dorm about to part company.

"Goodnight you two, and wake up on time tomorrow, I won't be able to get you up this time," Rukia said to them.

"Finally," Renji grumbled.

"Don't worry about us, we will manage. I am not above leaving Renji behind if he doesn't wake up," Ichigo told her, earning a smile from Rukia and a frown from Renji.

"Yeah, well same to you. Some friend you are," Renji sulked, turning away from the other two.

Ichigo turned to follow, but felt Rukia's hand grab his sleeve.

"I wanted to thank you again. If it wasn't for your encouragement earlier, I don't think I would have made it into the advanced class. I am glad you stayed with us," Rukia quietly said, just loud enough for Ichigo to hear.

Turning his head to she could she his smile, he told her, "So am I. Goodnight Rukia, I will make sure Renji makes it on time tomorrow."

Releasing his arm, she smiled back at him, saying, "Good, he is the one I am most worried about oversleeping."

"I heard that Midget!" Renji yelled at her.

"Goodnight Renji," she chirped back at him.

Shaking his head at them, Ichigo turned back to his own dorm.

"Goodnight Ichigo," Rukia called out behind him.

Waving his hand, Ichigo caught up with Renji, matching pace with him. They walked in silence back to their rooms.

The rooms were fairly Spartan, like most new rooms. The first year dorms were fairly nice, though no one got a single room. Renji and Ichigo found their room filled with several bunk beds, some occupied, some not.

Turning to each other, they both said, "I call top."

They stared at each other for a moment before racing to the closest bed. Ichigo managed to push Renji out of the way to get to the bed first, jumping onto the top.

"I win," Ichigo said, his back facing Renji.

"Whatever, I will just get onto another one."

"The loser one."

"Shut up Strawberry."

Chuckling a little, Ichigo closed his eyes. He was surprised to feel as tired as he did, but reflecting on the day it should not have surprised him as much as it did. They had done a lot today, and tomorrow promised even more. Drifting off to the most comfortable sleep he could remember, Ichigo began to dream.

**Ichigo's Dream**

Ichigo blinked his eyes, trying to adjust to the bright light he was now seeing.

"Where am I?" He asked out loud, not expecting anyone to respond.

"A fair question," a voice spoke out.

Alarmed, Ichigo looked around, but he couldn't see anyone, just white.

"Who said that? Where are you?"

"Who am I? That I can answer, but the real question is if you can understand it," The voice spoke out again, seemingly from everywhere around Ichigo.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo didn't understand what was going on, but he was going to get some answers.

"We shall see," the voice said ignoring him. "My name is-"

Ichigo couldn't understand what he said.

"I didn't catch that, can you say it again?"

"So you didn't hear me. Very well, it is for another time. Now I have a question for you Ichigo."

Ichigo stayed quiet despite the building questions he had.

"Why do you fight?"

"What?" Ichigo asked, surprised by the question.

"For what purpose do you fight? Why did you come here to the Shinigami academy?"

"I am confused. Does that matter?" Ichigo tried asking the voice, trying to get an understanding of what he wanted.

"It does matter. Reflect upon that question Ichigo, and maybe you will meet me next time you come here. Hopefully then the rain will be completely gone."

"Rain? What are you talking about? It isn't raining here."

The only response he got was silence.

Ichigo then felt himself pushed by an invisible force. Then he woke up.

The time he spent in his dream, or whatever it was, had taken up the entire night, and he woke up just when he had planned to. Shaking his head to clear his mind as he stretched, he began to get ready for the day, putting on his uniform, and getting some water to drink from the bathroom.

Looking in the mirror, he sighed, he though the uniform looked silly. Grumbling, he walked out of the bathroom, water in hand, and began to attempt to wake up Renji.

"Renji, get up," He said, quietly, so he didn't wake up anyone else.

Renji rolled over, trying to get away from the irritating noise.

"Don't make me get Rukia in here."

His threat went ignored by Renji, still blissfully asleep.

Looking around, Ichigo saw that most of the people in the room were up by now. Then he looked down at the cup half full of water, then up at Renji. Silently apologizing to the people still trying to sleep, Ichigo threw the water onto Renji's head. The reaction was immediate.

"What the hell!?" Renji shouted, shooting out of the bed. Unfortunately for him, he forgot he was on top of a bunk bed, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Unsurprisingly, almost everyone that was asleep was also woken up, though one guy was somehow still asleep.

Glaring up at the culprit of his sudden departure from his bed, Renji slowly got up on his feet.

"Good morning Renji," Ichigo calmly said, as if he didn't cause the commotion.

"I hate you right now."

"Yeah, yeah, I will keep that in mind. Now get dressed, we have a class to get to early. I would rather not face Rukia's wrath for being late either."

Grumbling, Renji listened to his friend and got dressed, and like Ichigo, he also sighed at the attire he would be wearing for the foreseeable future.

"Ready?" Ichigo called out to him.

"Yeah, let's go. Do you think we will get there before Rukia?"

"I would be surprised if we did, she normally wakes up before either of us. I am surprised I woke up when I did though."

"Oh? Why did you wake up so early then?"

"I had a weird dream."

"That really clears things up for me," Renji replied sarcastically.

"If there was a way I could, I would try it, but that is what happened."

"What about the dream was weird?"

"I don't know how to explain it well. I was somewhere, but the place was covered in fog. Then some voice talked to me, asked me some questions that I couldn't answer, and then I think he may have kicked me out of the dream."

Renji thought about it for a minute in silence.

"Well? What do you think?" Ichigo asked him.

"I think you have weird dreams."

"I don't know what I expected from you."

"Whatever. Look we made it here early," Renji said as they entered the classroom. Then he noticed someone missing. "Hey, where is the midget?"

Looking around, Ichigo noticed the she was not there. Shrugging to Renji, the two of them sat down next to each other, with a spot for Rukia open next to Ichigo. He had noticed he always had to sit in-between the two of them, because if he didn't, they would argue over everything.

The minutes ticked by, and the class filled up, but no Rukia yet.

With one minute left, Ichigo was very concerned. Everyone else had shown up, with Rukia's chair being the only one left in the classroom.

Then, with thirty seconds to spare Rukia walked in. To put it simple, she looked like she had just woken up. Her eyes were half lidded, her hair was messy, and there was a perfectly straight line of dried drool from her mouth down her cheek.

Renji couldn't help himself. He broke out into a loud laughter, which got everyone's attention to focus on what he was laughing at. Rukia blushed slightly as she sat down in her seat.

"Rough morning?" Ichigo innocently asked.

Rukia just turned and glared at him.

"You got something right there," He said, as he pointed to the drool on her face.

She tried to rub it off, but she left the back half of the line untouched. Though he was tempted to not tell her, he feared the consequences.

Scooting his chair over, her grabbed her sleeve, and then gently rubbed it on her cheek. Rukia glared back at him at first before realizing he was helping.

"You missed a spot," he said quietly.

"Thanks," she mumbled back.

The entire class witnessed the exchange, with most of the girls hoping they would find someone like Ichigo, bumping up his popularity. He didn't even know, to him the act was normal, Rukia was a close friend, and so he could do that.

Rukia, however, was a little more aware what the rumor mill works, and was dreading dealing with the girls later tonight, she already had to deal with questions from girls about Ichigo and Renji keeping her up at night, it was why she couldn't get any sleep and then almost oversplept.

"Alright everyone, the show is over, let's begin," Gengorō said, getting ever to look back to the front.

"I want to remind you all of where we are. This is the advanced class, so we are going to be moving at a faster pace. I expect you all to do well in what comes after this, like Ichimaru Gin, who graduated in one year and entered as a seated officer, and is now the lieutenant of squad five. That is what we want from all of you. Whether you do or not is up to you and your abilities."

The class listened intently to the man.

"Now if you are capable, you will be advanced into a higher level class. We will place you where your skills are, not by your year, so the better you do, the faster you get out. Any questions?"

The room stayed quiet.

"Good, let us begin."

The class began, and everyone was paying attention, so more so then others, but the fear and high expectations kept them listening.

There three kids from the outskirts of the Rukongai, were all listening intently, and hoping to get out of there early. Ichigo would occasionally think about his dream, and the question he was asked. He hoped he would get an answer soon; maybe something in his class would help him out.

Shaking his head, he listened to Gengorō again. He knew his future was in his hands at this point, and he was going to do the best he could to shape his future well. He wanted to get out early, to be one of the best, and he was going to do it, one way or another.

His goal set, Ichigo began to prepare for the trails that awaited both him, and his friends.

* * *

There we go, the end of the chapter. I hope you all liked it, and that you want to see more.

So important stuff this time was that Rukia is in the advanced class, which I wanted for two reasons. The better reason is that she is powerful now, and if I remember she was nervous the first time she took the test, so messed up. I mean she did take out the 9th espada, who are supposed to be captain class, so I think she could have made it into the advanced class. If you don't like it, do not worry, she won't be there for long. The not so good reason is because I am lazy, and writing Rukia is easier this way, but like I said, she won't be sticking around.

The other important thing was the dream, I am sure you people know who that is. He will be making a more formal appearance soon.

Next time there will be an introduction of some new friends, our Ichigo's group is going to expand. I think I will get to the world of the living trip next time too, but that may be pushing it. Oh, and Rukia meets someone inportant.

So I think that is everything, so I will catch you next chapter

-Jimba


	8. Let's get Physical

Alright, I finally got out another chapter. My summer classes have picked up, so I haven't had the time to write like before. Regardless I will be trying to find the time to write this story, since I am enjoying doing it. I also wrote about 2,500 words for this chapter before deciding I didn't like what I had written and starting over again, which added a day or two.

So I had originally said we would be getting to the world of the living trip this chapter, but I forgot about some parts that I wanted to write, so I think that will be in two chapters, but don't quote me on that.

Other than that, here is the usual pre-story stuff.

Voting is going well, I guess. I really should be happy about what I have, right? Here be the numbers  
Squad 8: 9  
Squad 10: 8  
Squad 2: 6  
Squad 13: 4  
Squad 4: 1  
Squad 11: 1  
others: 0

So there you are. If you want to vote, the poll is still open on my profile. If you feel really adamant about your position of where Ichigo should go, send me a message or write a review for it.

Speaking of reviews, you all have been writing some damn good ones. So please keep it up, I do enjoy reading what you all think should happen. If someone could tell me how a zanpakuto is personalized, like the colors on the sealed sword, or the different tsubas, I would be thankful.

Oh, I since I don't think I am creative enough to make a release command for Ichigo, so I am turning to you. If you are willing to throw out your idea for a release command, send me a message or review with it, and I will pick the one I like the most, and give credit to the author of the command.

I believe that is everything, so as always, thank you for reading, follow, favorite and review if you want, I will be happy with any of those.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach

* * *

Ichigo was sitting in class zoned out as he vaguely listened to Gengorō lecturing. Ichigo was reflecting on all that had happened to him and his friends go to where they were.

In the month that had passed since they entered the Academy, several things had changed. First was a physical change, both Renji and Ichigo had grown once again, Renji topping out at six foot two, and Ichigo had reached about five foot eight.

Of course not every change was physical. Renji had made some more friends, more than either Rukia or Ichigo. It didn't surprise Ichigo that Renji was the most social of the three of them; he always had a way with words. In Ichigo's mind however, there was one new friend that stuck out that happened a week after they began school.

**Flashback to one week after joining Academy**

"Where is that fool?" Rukia asked out loud.

"I don't know, he said he would make it back to class on time. I think he went to take a nap," Ichigo told her calmly.

"A nap! What was he thinking?"

"He was tired?"

"Really Ichigo?"

"What do you want from me, all I know is that he isn't here, and he said he was going to take a nap."

As if he was summoned, Renji and a blonde kid walked into the class talking to each other.

Ichigo and Rukia waited for Renji to finish his conversation with the kid. They were surprised when Renji pointed at them and then walked over with the kid.

"Hey guys!" Renji said enthusiastically. "I wanted to introduce you to this guy, Izuru Kira."

Izuru Kira was an average height pale skinned boy. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes that matched the standard academy attire he was wearing.

"Hello," Ichigo said.

"Yeah, hello," Rukia said shortly, earning her a raised eyebrow from Ichigo. "Where were you?" she demanded to Renji.

Renji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and looked away. "I was sleeping in a tree…"

"A tree?" Rukia repeated.

Ichigo ignored his two old friends while they argued, he didn't really mind what Renji did, so long as he made it to class. Turning his attention to the person who looked out of place near them.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki," he said, offering the kid his hand.

"Izuru Kira," The now named Kira confirming what Renji stated before. Kira shook Ichigo's hand with a slightly weak grip.

"Don't mind them, they argue like a couple all the time," Ichigo said getting a quiet chuckle from Kira.

"We do not!" they yelled at Ichigo in unison, causing Ichigo to laugh at them.

"So how did you two meet?" Ichigo asked, mostly at Kira, but Renji answered for him.

"That isn't important," Renji intercepted the question, preventing Kira to answer.

"What did you do?" Rukia asked suspiciously.

"What makes you think I did something?" Renji countered hotly.

Looking at the two, Ichigo sighed.

"I swear they can't talk to each other without fighting now. So did Renji do something stupid?" Ichigo asked.

"You fell out of the tree into a cemetery?!" Rukia yelled at him, answering Ichigo's question.

Closing his eyes, Ichigo took a slow breath.

"I apologize for my friends stupidity, he does not know what he does sometimes," Ichigo said to Kira while bowing in apology.

"Hey!" Renji yelled indignantly.

Overwhelmed, Kira only raised his hands to try to slow them down, saying, "It's ok, He apologized there, ad he didn't really need to, I had just finished praying anyway."

Rukia looked back at Renji, yelling, "You interrupted his prayer? You idiot!"

"Hey, he said he was done!" Renji tried to defend himself.

Fortunately for Renji, Gengorō walked in cutting off Rukia's rant, and also forcing the four to sit down next to each other.

As Gengorō began to lecture, Ichigo and company got used to Kira being around, and so the following day they sat together, and soon enough the group of three became four.

**Flashback end**

Ichigo's attention refocused on Gengorō so he could hear what they would be doing tomorrow.

"Listen up, tomorrow we are going to do some physical training. This time you will be meeting with a different instructor, and I expect you all to be on your best behavior for him. You will meet at the outside training field first thing in the morning," Gengorō finished, ending the class.

Walking over to Renji, Ichigo could see the happiness he was radiating at the mention of the physical training, because that meant one thing for him, duels.

Whether it was hand-to-hand or with practice swords, Renji had always enjoyed doing the physical part of the curriculum

Rukia was another matter. Whenever she was paired up with Ichigo, Renji, or Kira, she would do fine, but when it was someone else, she did worse. It wasn't that she did anything specifically wrong; her enthusiasm just wasn't there when she was going against a different classmate. So her reaction was a little muted.

Kira did fine, he would beat most people in their class, except Renji or Ichigo, so he didn't mind doing physical things, though he preferred the more academic things offered by the academy.

Ichigo was ambivalent, he didn't really mind what they did, and he seemed to do well in most things. When it came to the duels between the classmates, Renji was the only one to actually win against him, though both Kira and Rukia gave him a run for his money. Academically, Ichigo was the top of the class, surpassing everyone, and apparently he broke some records too.

There were whispers that he would be graduating early, but he ignored them; as of now he didn't want to leave his friends.

His top spot in the class earned him a popularity he didn't want though, and according to Rukia, a large following of girls trying to win his heart, which Renji made fun of him for.

As the four headed out to eat some dinner, and study a bit, Ichigo talked with Kira about the lecture, with Rukia adding some important anecdote or side comment about what they were doing. Renji just ignored them, just basking in the anticipation of winning a duel tomorrow.

After they ate, the boys left Rukia at her dorm and walked back, with Renji providing the commentary about how he was going to beat everyone tomorrow, even Ichigo.

Shaking his head, Ichigo walked into the dorm, and got ready for bed. Getting onto his bed, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

**The Next Morning**

"Good Morning Ichigo!" Renji yelled to wake up his best friend.

Grumbling, Ichigo covered his head with his pillow, trying to ignore his energetic friend.

"Get up so I can kick your ass today!"

"Shut up Renji, let me sleep, I still have time," Ichigo growled from underneath his pillow.

"Come one, that ass kicking isn't going to wait! Get up!"

Giving up, Ichigo rolled onto his back, flinging his pillow at the noisemaker next to him.

"You know if you acted like that every morning, not just days we practice fighting, you could be top student," Ichigo calmly said.

"I could, but normal class is so boring. I will let you keep all the good grades, just know that I can beat you in a sword fight," Renji exclaimed happily.

"I believe I won last time."

"No you didn't, I did."

"Kira, who won last time?" Ichigo asked Kira, knowing he was there.

"Ichigo did," He responded to the question.

"Told you," Ichigo smugly said to Renji.

"Ok, so maybe you won last time, but I am pretty sure I have won more," Renji said trying to defend himself.

"Actually, Ichigo is ahead of you by three now," Kira corrected him calmly; it wasn't the first time he had to do this.

"Shut up, who is keeping count anyway, everyone knows I am the most impressive." Renji was really going for it today.

"Fine, you are a better showman than I am," Ichigo said, finally getting up from his bed.

"And don't you forget it."

"I am sure you wont let us," Ichigo mumbled, and Kira thought.

Whether Renji heard that or not didn't matter, as the boys quickly got ready and left the dorm, heading to the training grounds, joining those of their class that were already there.

Rukia arrived five minutes after them, and joined the group in waiting for their instructor to arrive.

"Alright, it appears everyone is here," the new instructor said. "I am told you all have great potential, so I expect to be impressed."

He pulled out some bokken shaped like katana, and placed them on the ground in front of the class.

"Now, I expect you all to understand when you should be using these things. No one is to fight without my say so, we don't want anyone to get hurt being stupid, you can do that on your own time. Come up as I call you to get your sword, and if anyone starts swinging it around others for no reason, you will be sent to Gengorō to face his displeasure. You have been warned."

As the students where called up, Renji was shaking in anticipation again. He wanted to prove he was better than anyone when it came to sword fighting. He hoped his opponent was Ichigo, so he could do what he said he would this morning.

"Abarai," The instructor called him.

Jumping up, Renji all but ran up to the swords, and grabbed one.

Kira was next, and he moved much slower compared to Renji, but that could be said about everyone in the class.

Ichigo was third, who was more like Kira, calmly walking over to the swords. However, Ichigo looked at them first, and picked up two, before putting one back down, liking one more than the other.

Rukia was last of the group, and she picked up a sword, and walked back to her friends.

"Alright, now that you all are armed, we will have a one on one fights today. I will call you up, and you will fight whoever you opponent is, so I don't want to hear any complaining about their height or lack of it. When I say the fight is over, you will stop, understood? Good, let's begin."

Once the teacher had started to call out the names, the fights began. Since there were 28 students, everyone knew it would take a while to finish. If they had time left over, they would do something else, like group fights.

First from their group were both Renji and Kira. They had often fought each other in these class fights, so their classmates already knew who would probably win. Renji was more aggressive than Kira, so Renji often won.

Getting ready, the two squared off, and the teacher gave them the signal to begin. Immediately, Renji was on the attack, forcing Kira into his tempo. At first it seemed that Kira would go down there, but he took a step back forcing Renji to over reach, turning the tables on the aggressive redhead.

Now defending, Renji was starting to lose ground to Kira. Blocking another strike, Renji started to move forwards, changing his tactic to try to regain control of the fight. His plan worked, since Kira was unable to stay aggressive and keep Renji back at the same time.

With control of the fight back, Renji ruthlessly attacked his friend. Kira tried to block to the best of his ability. Renji did not give up his assault, and he quickly regained the ground he lost to Kira, and then some.

With a loud crack, Renji knocked the bokken away from Kira's hand, and then pointed his own sword at Kira, forcing him to surrender.

"Well done you two!" The instructor praised them. "Abarai, good offense, and great reaction to Izuru's attack. Izuru, if it were anyone else, you would have won with your quick thinking to turn the tables." Facing the rest of the class, he said, "You all need to aim to be like them in a fight with hollows. You need to think quickly and attack ruthlessly. Alright, next pair…"

The next couple of fights went quickly with nothing spectacular happening.

"Alright, next up, Kurosaki and Rukia. You two should know the rules by now. Get ready and begin on my call."

They both walked up and stood next to each other, preparing to spar. The class watched the two intently, hoping for another interesting fight. The girls were cheering for Ichigo, and some guys.

Renji was loudly cheering for Rukia, shouting, "Kick his ass for me Midget!" His cheer got some of the guys to laugh, and a few glares from some of the females.

"Begin!" The instructor yelled, starting the match.

Rukia advanced towards Ichigo quickly, trying to catch him off guard. To her, and everyone else's, surprise, Ichigo did not move at all, not even put up a guard. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Rukia continued on, and lead off her attack with a stab at Ichigo's midsection.

Instead of blocking, Ichigo just twisted out of the way of Rukia's sword, and despite his superior position, Ichigo made no aggressive action.

"Are you planning on doing nothing this fight?" Rukia asked bewildered and a bit irritated, she didn't like being looked down on.

"Give me a reason to fight and I will," Ichigo said, trying to rile her up. "Right now I couldn't be bothered to fight you, it isn't even worth the effort."

His plan was a dramatic success, and Rukia immediately stabbed out at him again, rapidly following up with more stabs. However, much like her first attempt, Ichigo just twisted and weaved away, without once raising his sword.

The class was surprised, both by Rukia's aggressive offense, and Ichigo's nonchalant attitude towards the attacks sent towards him, as well as his apparent flexibility.

For ten seconds Rukia didn't stop attacking, but she never hit Ichigo. Flustered she yelled, "Come on and fight me!"

This time Ichigo stayed quiet, which served to further annoy Rukia.

"Fine then!" she yelled in anger.

She raised her sword over her head and brought it down. Again Ichigo dodged the strike. Rukia followed up by flipping the sword in her hand and swiftly bringing it up, almost like an uppercut. Just as easily as before, Ichigo moved out of the way.

To the rest of the students, it was like Ichigo was predicting what Rukia was going to do. It was either that or his reaction time was near instantaneous, and he could move very fast. Whatever the reason, Ichigo appeared to be untouchable, and it didn't look like he was trying.

Ichigo was trying, however, and his goal to piss off Rukia was a complete success, but now he had to deal with her anger fueled speed and strength, and it wasn't easy. If it had been anyone else, Rukia would have hit him or her, but Ichigo knew what he was doing. Mostly.

Dodging another vicious blow to his torso, Ichigo danced away from Rukia, separating them so he could catch his breath. While he wasn't showing it, Ichigo was starting to get tired from avoiding Rukia's wooden blade. Still, he was waiting or the perfect time to strike.

Rukia rushed up to him, and for the first time, she caught him off guard. In a move that got Renji to laugh, Rukia managed to kick Ichigo in the shin. She followed the kick with a downward blow, expecting to be able to defeat Ichigo from the move.

Dropping to a knee, Ichigo quickly brought his sword up for the first time, easily blocking her strike from hitting his shoulder. Grimacing as he rubbed his leg, Ichigo looked up at Rukia from behind his sword.

"That wasn't nice," he stated.

"Neither was making a fool of me," she returned, though she knew he wasn't actually trying to do so, her frustration was very real regardless.

"Then I guess I should end this."

"Oh, will it be so easy from down there?"

The class had to agree with her, Ichigo was down on his knee, and Rukia could leverage all of her strength against him, while he was limited.

To Rukia's surprise, Ichigo suddenly released the pressure from behind his sword, causing her to stumble forward. Quicker than anyone could notice, Ichigo rolled to his side, and got to his feet.

"Shall we continue?" Ichigo asked, brandishing his sword for the first time.

Rukia, who had regained her footing, just narrowed her eyes and nodded.

Again, Rukia rushed forward, and again Ichigo didn't move. Rukia expected him to dodge away again, and swung her sword in a horizontal arc in front of her, trying to prevent him from moving to the side again. As her sword got close to Ichigo, he finally moved. Then suddenly, her hands were empty.

Few people had seen Ichigo swing his sword, so they were surprised when they saw Rukia's knocked from her grip. The sword went high into the sky, before falling point down in between the two combatants. With a thud, the sword drove itself into the ground.

Rukia, who was shocked by the sudden reverse, could only stare at the sword in awe.

Renji wasn't much different, he was staring wide-eyed and slack jawed at the newly created monument poking out of the ground.

"Winner, Kurosaki!" The instructor bellow, snapping everyone out of their shocked states.

The instructor began to praise both Rukia, for her fantastic attacks, and Ichigo, for his reaction and finish. The last of the fights were rather boring compared to that, so no one but Ichigo really watched.

Once the instructor called an end to the last, he checked his watch to find he had the students for a little longer.

"Alright, it seems we ended a bit early, so I am going to put some of you into a team spar. I think two on two will be fine today. If you don't get picked before we end, don't fret; you will get to watch some battles of your peers. You all should be trying to learn as much as you can from each other."

The first group of four was called, ad Kira was involved. The battle was brief, Kira and his teammate worked well together. Rather, Kira was able to get his opponents to move where he wanted, and his teammate capitalized on it.

"Very good you two," the instructor praised, "Kira, good work on leading and moving your opponents."

"Alright, next group, Abarai and Rukia versus Kurosaki and Hinamori. You have one minute to plan, and then we will begin."

Ichigo sighed; he really didn't want to have to fight both Renji and Rukia. Knowing he couldn't get out of it, he headed over to where he was to meet his teammate.

Arriving he found his partner to be a short, though taller than Rukia, girl with brown eyes, and brown hair with two short ponytails near the base of her head.

"Umm, hello." She nervously greeted.

"Hello," Ichigo returned.

They stared at each other for a sec, and then Hinamori looked away. Ichigo inwardly sighed; he really didn't want to do this. It wasn't that he didn't like the girl; he just didn't really know her.

"Alright, so I watched your fight, and I can tell you don't like sword fighting, which is fine, we will be doing other things than swinging around a sword soon," Ichigo began, while the girl lowered her head and nodded, agreeing with his assessment.

"Like I said, it is fine. Now those two are my closest friends, and we have known each other for over a decade, so we know each other very well, which is good for us."

"But doesn't that mean it is good for them too?" She asked.

"If it were anyone else paired with Rukia, like Kira, I would agree, but we got lucky and Renji was paired with her. Those two wont be able to agree on a tactic other than taking me out early, then focusing on you."

The girl nodded in understanding.

"So we are going to let them do that. I can handle fighting them both for a few minutes. When I create an opening, you can take them out from behind. After we take out one, the other will quickly follow."

"Are you sure I can do this?" Hinamori asked him nervously, she didn't think this was a great plan.

"Sure, it will be easy," Ichigo calmly told her. "Don't worry about me, I know how to fight these two, just watch and wait, you can do this."

Whatever her response was going to be was cut off from the instructor getting them to take their positions.

Before they started, Renji had to get an insult on.

"You ready to lose Ichigo? This will be over in less than two minutes," Renji boasted.

"Begin!" the instructor yelled, causing Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo to jump forward, while Hinamori jumped back, distancing herself from the three. She began to circle as the three friends started to fight.

"See, I told you he would go after me," Renji said to Rukia.

"No, you said he would go after me so they could take you out two on one," Rukia replied.

"Whatever, let's just take him out."

Renji was the first to strike, slashing at Ichigo, causing him to take a step back. Rukia then stabbed at him as he was on his back foot, hoping he wouldn't be able to dodge. Dancing away from her stab Ichigo brought his sword up, blocking Renji's second slash. Moving, Ichigo put himself in between Renji and Rukia, with his back towards Rukia.

She thought she could get Ichigo now, so she swung her sword from over her head in a downward strike, she was surprised when he moved out of the way, and she hit Renji's sword.

"Watch what you are doing!" she yelled at him.

Renji didn't say anything back, instead he tried to strike Ichigo, but Ichigo had moved behind him, spinning around, Renji allowed his momentum to carry his sword in another horizontal slash.

Ichigo knocked the blow away, sending Renji's sword upwards. Renji held onto his sword, but now his sword was not protecting him. Thinking he was safe since Ichigo still had to bring his sword back down too, he was surprised when Ichigo stepped to the side.

What he didn't see was Hinamori right behind Ichigo, her sword ready to stab out at Renji.

Renji was too focused to see the blow coming, and when he felt the sword stab his shoulder, he had to do a double take to understand what had happened.

"What?" Renji dumbly asked, his lack of understanding of what happened to him obvious in his voice.

"Abarai, you were hit, move out of the fight," the instructor told him.

"But-" Renji tried to no avail.

"Now!"

Having no other choice, Renji did what he was told, and moved away from the other three.

Rukia didn't last much longer alone, with Renji gone, she lost her support, and she was tapped on the back by Ichigo while defending herself from Hinamori.

"Good job out there," Ichigo said to Hinamori.

"Thanks," she mumbled, blushing from the praise. "I didn't really do anything though."

"You tagged Renji out, which secured us the win."

"But it was because he was focused on you, so he didn't even see me."

"Then that was his fault. You still did well for reacting that quickly without me saying anything. If you hadn't, Renji and Rukia may have worn me down."

She only nodded this time.

"I guess I look forward to working with you again Hinamori," He said with a small smile.

"Momo," she said quietly, focusing on an interesting spot on the ground to aviod Ichigo's gaze.

"What?"

"You can call me Momo."

"Oh, then you can call me Ichigo. I don't like it when people call me Kurosaki anyway," He said, getting Momo to giggle.

"Well, it looks like we are done out here, it was a pleasure working with you today Momo. I will see you later."

Ichigo waved to her as he walked to join up with his group of friends as they headed to lunch, ignoring Renji's complaints about losing. After they ate, they headed back to class, where Gengorō started to lecture about accessing their reiatsu, saying they would be actually trying this soon, much earlier than the normal class.

Listening intently, Ichigo and Kira both took notes, while Rukia doodled and Renji stared off into space.

"When you are capable of using your reiatsu, we are going to do kido. So the sooner you all can use it, the sooner you will be shooting fire from your hands. That usually gets students excited. I will see you all tomorrow after you do some more physical training."

The class was dismissed then, and the friends walked out together.

Ichigo managed to break away from his friends, getting a moment to himself. He was unusually tired today, maybe it was from fighting twice today, and he worked very hard on the second fight to keep attention on him. Fighting two people at once was hard.

Getting to his bed, he laid down to fall asleep. He began to dream once again, just like his first night at the academy.

**Dreamscape**

Blinking his eyes open, he sighed.

"Here again. The place of disembodied voices and fog," he cursed out loud. In his time in the strange world he was currently in, he found it hard to keep his thoughts in his head, often verbalizing all his thoughts.

The only time he didn't was when he heard someone else and he was trying to figure out who it was. So far, he had heard the same voice every time he ended up here. This was the forth time he visited where ever this was.

"One day you will know the true name of this place. It is far closer to you than you think," the voice said.

"You again," Ichigo said dryly.

"Indeed."

"So are you going to tell me your name?"

"As soon as you answer my question."

"I have answered you question, several times in fact."

"Incorrectly," The voice calmly said.

"So you have said. I don't know what you want to hear," Ichigo said in frustration.

"I want to know why you fight."

Ichigo just sighed, they had this argument several times over the past month, and each time Ichigo offered an answer, the voice never accepted them, telling Ichigo just saying feelings without conviction would get his name.

"When you find the answer, you will know. It will be more than a feeling. A purpose, a desire is what you seek. The answer is not a passing fancy, or some trivial feeling. Do not expect your random guessing to get you what you seek. Think about why you are trying to get stronger, and one day you will know."

Once again, Ichigo was kicked out of the world, awaking five minutes before he would normally.

Another thing he noticed was that time seemed to pass quickly in his dream world. And that the voice always kicked him out five minutes than he would normally would wake up.

Groaning, he got up and prepared for the day. That infernal question had been nagging him since the first time he entered that world.

Rubbing his eyes as he walked to the bathroom, he thought about that damn question again. Why did he fight? It was a vague question with a vague answer, an answer he didn't quite have. Sighing, he shook the question from his head.

Prepared for the day, he woke up his friends, and headed out the door to meet up with Rukia.

Looking forward to the next week, Ichigo smiled a small smile, and then took in a deep breath of air. The question cam back to his mind, and this time he didn't stress about it. Hoping he would get the answer sooner rather than later, Ichigo walked into the classroom, ready to face the challenges of the day.

* * *

There we go, chapter 8 complete. next time we will be doing Kido, hurray! There is a scene that I have been planning to write since I though up this story. I can't wait.

For this chapter I decided that splitting apart the physical training and the more reiatsu based training for next chapter, and Aizen's visit as well. I introduced Momo and Kira this chapter, though Momo was just a brief one, I didn't want to just drop her in the group during the human world trip, so I thought this was a good way to have her debut.

Anyway, I had fun writing this chapter, particularly the spar between Rukia and Ichigo, though the team fight was fun too. Tell me if the fights are well written, I think if anything needs improving those would be it, since I can't have a good Bleach fan-fiction without some good fights.

That is all for this submission, so I hope you all enjoyed. Keep up the reviews, they are amazing.

See you all next time

-Jimba


	9. Fireball!

My, has it been a while. I am pretty sure I would be able to put out a weekly chapter last chapter, and yet here were are, more than a week later with a new chapter. I apologize for the delay, my two summer classes got really busy, so I didn't have much time to write this, and even less to edit it. However, I should get some more chapters out soon, my classes are almost over.

I have had some people ask me to clarify the timeline for this story, and it was something I meant to do last chapter, but I forgot, my bad. Anyway, the big difference here as apposed to canon is Ichigo's birth year. It has been moved up, obviously, but that also means his father went to the human world earlier, because baby making and stuff. Anyway I do not think that will change to much, but the important things are that Hitsugaya will not have met Isshin, however Matsumoto will have served as his lieutenant. Ichigo's mother is still alive, though I am not quite sure how to best explain that without making it seem unrealistic, but I have a few ideas. Other than that, I cannot think of anything else too important that would have changed, but pm me if you think of something specific that I need to address.

Poll time! So I was just looking at the poll one day and holy crap, squad 2 came out of no where. Here are the numbers  
Squad 2: 13  
Squad 8: 12  
Squad 10: 8  
Squad 13: 4  
Squad 4: 1  
Squad 11: 1

So yeah, that surprised me, but now Squad 2 leads the poll, taking over squad 8. Regardless, vote if you haven't, if you can't pm me or leave your vote at the end of a review, I try to count them.

As always, like, favorite, and review if you want, and send me suggestions about squads or pairings or whatever.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach

* * *

It had been a week since class number one had started their physical training, and just like Gengorō said, they were beginning to work on using their reiatsu.

"All right you lot, take a seat and get comfortable, we are going to pull out the rest of your reiatsu today. This may take you a while, so for the next five days we are meeting here first thing in the morning," Gengorō yelled out.

Some students grumbled as they sat down. The "here" that Gengorō was talking about was at an outside training field that was in the forest a good thirty minutes away from the dorms.

"Great, now we have to wake up earlier," Renji grumbled, saying what most of the class was thinking.

"Moan all you want, it is only for a few days. If you get access to your reiatsu early, you will be able to sleep in, since you will be working on your control away from the rest of the class," Gengorō said, ignoring most of the groaning.

"Now, I need the rest of you to stay here and meditate, Kurosaki, I need your help with something first."

Ignoring the questioning looks from his friends, Ichigo got up, dusted himself off, and walked over to Gengorō.

"Here, take this package, and give it to the teacher in our normal classroom. He will tell you if he needs something else. Listen to him carefully," Gengorō said, getting Ichigo to raise his eyebrow in confusion.

"Hai," Ichigo said, regardless of his confusion, and headed off to the classroom.

Getting to the room, Ichigo walked in and found the teacher he needed to give the package to.

"Ah, Kurosaki, you are here," the teacher said. Putting his hand out, he continued, "I will take that off your hands. You can take a seat over there," he said, pointing in the general direction of the chairs.

Doing what he was told, Ichigo sat down in the chair closest to him. Watching the teacher open the package, Ichigo saw what he thought was two leather strips fall into the hands of the teacher.

"Two, huh? Gengorō must expect a lot from you."

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh, nothing important. Now, let me tell you why you are here. Gengorō, and several other instructors, are concerned about you when you unlock you reiastu for the first time."

Ichigo was confused, was something going to happen to him?

The teacher in front of him saw the concerned look the Ichigo was showing, and spoke up.

"I guess I should clarify, they aren't really concerned about your well being exactly, just that you won't be able to control all of the reiastu you seem to already have. That is a problem for the people around you, particularly your classmates. They won't be able to resist the weight of your reiatsu, and they could pass out, which we don't want to happen."

"So I have been isolated from anyone who could be knocked out?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, we hope so at least. So let's get started. First, you need to meditate, you should be able to do that by now, so that is the easy part."

Ichigo nodded and changed his position to get ready to meditate.

"The hard part is only hard because it has vague instructions. You are looking for a feeling, which is difficult enough to describe. Unfortunately, everyone describes the feeling as something different. Some say it was warm, others say it was cold. The only thing they said was that you would know it when you found it. I know that isn't super helpful, but this is a very personal feeling, so only you will know when you find it," the teacher said, trying to help Ichigo.

"Once you find it, you will need to follow it to its center. That is where your dormant power lies. If you think you are following a never ending path, keep pressing on, and eventually you will reach your destination."

"Now, since you are doing this here, and Gengorō doesn't want you to stand out too much by being away from the others, you will have to finish this exercise today. So get comfortable, you may be here a while. If you have any questions, ask, it may help you out."

The instructor finished his lecture, and sat behind the desk and pulled out some papers to grade, while Ichigo closed his eyes and began to meditate.

Slowly, the world around Ichigo began to fade away, and after half an hour he was in a meditative state.

Knowing that he was ready to search for the feeling, or whatever it was, Ichigo began to do what the instructor said, and just looked. At first, there was nothing, just comfortable silence.

Then he felt something. It wasn't a warm or cold feeling, nothing vague like that. It just was, well, it just was. Nothing could really describe it.

Hoping this was what he was looking for, Ichigo followed it to its core. It took several attempts, he would often continue following the feeling for what felt like an hour, and then find that he had barely gotten anywhere within it.

Stubbornly, Ichigo tried again, forcing his way through the path desperately trying to reach the destination that was required of him.

Then it happened. He reached the end, and the feeling suddenly over-whelmed him. He felt power flow through his body, awakening him from his meditative state.

Now fully aware, he could hear the teacher shouting at him.

"Kurosaki! Get it under control!" the man shouted.

Startled, Ichigo opened his eyes.

What greeted him was something he would remember for a long time. Surrounding him was a thin blue ball of energy. At the top of the ball were flame-like wisps of the same energy, which were being released and would disappear after a few seconds.

The room was a mess; the desks around him had been pushed back, forming a semi circle with him in the middle. The papers that the teacher was grading were strewn throughout the room, the ones the landed near him were shredded. In a word, it was chaos.

"Kurosaki! Can you repress some of your power?" The instructor shouted over the chaos within the room.

Ichigo tried several things to rein in the power flowing out of him. Unfortunately, nothing was working, so Ichigo yelled that he couldn't.

The instructor seemed to understand that he couldn't control the power radiating from him over the noise, and grabbed the leather strips from off his desk, which had not moved from where he placed them even with all of the force being generated by Ichigo blowing everything else away.

The teacher slowly walked over to Ichigo, who noticed that it look like he was struggling under a weight of some kind.

Reaching out to his arm, the instructor one strap onto his wrist, and instantly Ichigo felt some of the power being blocked off. However, there was still the blue shell of energy around him.

The second strap was put onto his other wrist, and Ichigo felt the world dim, as if something was placed over his eyes that dulled the colors he saw around him. The blue shell of reiatsu dissipated, and the wind and other forces originating from Ichigo calmed.

"Two suppressants needed; that has to be a record or something. This is the last time I am going to help Gengorō out with a prodigy," the teacher mumbled to himself, ignoring the fact that Ichigo could hear him.

"Well, that escalated quickly, didn't it Kurosaki?" the man asked rhetorically as he surveyed the destruction within the room. "No matter, you are free to go, I believe your class just finished for the day. Don't worry about the mess; we were expecting something like this. Have a nice day," the instructor said, ushering Ichigo out the door.

Right as Ichigo was about to leave, the instructor added one more thing, "Those bands are reiatsu suppressants, and you are not to take them off near any other students, even your friends. If you do, the consequences will be most severe."

Then the teacher closed the door, preventing Ichigo from asking him anything.

Sighing to himself, Ichigo headed out to where he and his friends normally got lunch.

Getting to the cafeteria, Ichigo found himself approaching an unusual sight. From where he was, it looked like Rukia was bragging to Renji, and Kira was laughing at him.

He approached them without any of them noticing, and heard the end of Rukia's speech.

"…you don't need to worry about it Renji, not everyone was supposed to access their reiatsu today but if you want to know how the good people dir it, you can ask either of us here. There is no shame in asking for help from your betters," Rukia said, with a smugness that Ichigo could feel.

It appeared the Rukia and Kira were also able to understand the vague instructions and find their powers. According to Rukia's gloating, Renji wasn't as lucky, and Rukia was exacting revenge for all the years of listening to Renji brag about something.

Poor Renji.

In an attempt to help his crimson haired friend, Ichigo walked over to them, though they were too busy laughing or being laughed at to notice him approach.

He managed to get right behind Rukia without any of them seeing him, an impressive feat considering the color of his hair.

Rukia, oblivious to the person behind her, was laughing so hard she had to place her hand on the table to keep herself upright.

Ichigo placed his hand on her shoulder, and she froze, which caught the attention of the other two sitting with her

"Holy crap Ichigo, don't do that!" she yelled at him.

"Do what? He asked innocently, "I was just trying to say hello to my dear friend. It isn't my fault you didn't notice me coming."

Laughing as he dodged the punch he knew was coming, Ichigo moved away from her and sat next to Renji, while Rukia mumbled something under her breath about jerks.

"So, how was class? I see Renji had some problems today," Ichigo said, bringing the conversation back to where it was before he got there.

Kira spoke up this time, saying, "Class was fine, we all sat around on the ground trying to understand the directions. In fact, I think only four or five of us did what they wanted us to do."

"And despite his boasts, Renji was not one of them," Rukia added.

"Hey, the directions were vague, I bet Ichigo wouldn't have been able to do it either," Renji returned.

"Speaking of you, where were you? You left and then Gengorō had us start without you. I thought you only had to give an instructor that package," Rukia asked.

"I did deliver the package, but then he made me stay and do what you all were doing, he said I would disturb you all or something," Ichigo lied.

Rukia didn't seem to believe him, but she wasn't able to ask him anything because Renji demanded Ichigo's attention.

"So did you do it? Could you access your reiatsu? No don't tell me, I bet you couldn't, even I couldn't."

"As a matter of fact I did Renji. Unlike you, I can understand directions," Ichigo shot back.

Renji looked defeated at being the only one who couldn't use he reiatsu fully.

"Now, now Renji, you still have a few more days to do it, it isn't like we are going to leave you behind," Kira said, trying to return Renji to his normal state.

"Whatever," Renji mumbled.

They continued their conversations and eating, and then they headed off to their classes for the second half of the day, before turning in to sleep.

Ichigo had managed to avoid talking about what had happened in the classroom, and no one seemed to notice the bands he was now wearing on his wrists. For a reason he could not say, Ichigo wanted to avoid talking about it.

His thoughts aside, Ichigo managed to sleep, preparing himself for the next week.

The days progressed much like Gengorō said it would, as Ichigo, Kira, Rukia, and Momo, who also happened to gain access to her reiatsu the first day worked on control.

This time Ichigo was allowed to be with is friends, though the bands were still on.

The third day, almost half the class was working on control, and by the fifth, all but two people were there.

It was the fourth day that Renji managed to get his head around the vague instructions they were given. It turned out that he had a large amount of reiatsu, so like Ichigo; it was hard for him to find the source of it.

Now that the week had passed, the class was ready for its first kido lesson.

"Alright everyone, listen up. Today you are going to be starting using kido. We will start with one of the most basic Hado spells: Shakkahō. You should already know the incantation and stance from class, so this should go fairly quickly," the Kido instructor said.

Motioning to the wall of targets in front of him, the instructor continued, "There are your targets, but we aren't really expecting too much for the first attempt. As long as you don't blow yourself up, you are doing fine. Now line up in groups of no more than four."

The students excitedly moved into their groups, everyone wanting to be the first to shoot a blast of energy from their hands.

Ichigo and his friends were in the same group, with Kira up first, then Rukia, Ichigo, and ending with Renji.

"Good, you are ready. On my mark, begin the incantation and aim towards the wall. Ready? Mark!"

Kira calmly slip into the proper stance, with on arm facing the wall, and the other gripping his wrist for support.

_"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"_

The group up front chanted almost in sync.

"Hado number 31, Shakkahō," Kira said as a red orb formed in front of his palm. Shooting off, the orb hit the corner of a target on the wall across from them.

Kira was the only one of his group to actually fire the blast, but others at least formed the ball of red energy, it just fizzled out.

"Good job Izuru, well done. Next group!" the instructor yelled.

Rukia walked up, and stiffly got into the stance.

"On my mark. Mark!"

The chant began again, a bit less in sync than the first group.

"Hado number 31 shakkahō!" Rukia yelled as the red ball formed in her palm.

This time, two balls of red launched out from the line, Rukia's and Momo's, who was at the other end of the formation of students.

Rukia's ball fell short, exploding on the ground just in front of the wall. Momo's made it to the wall, but missed the targets, hitting in between two of them.

"Not bad you two, very good for the first try," the instructor informed them.

"Way to miss the wall, Midget!" Renji yelled out.

"We will see how well you do Renji," Rukia shot back.

"Next group, step up!" the instructor commanded.

Ichigo stepped up next, and slowly got into the stance his friends did, and took a deep breath.

"Mark!" the instructor yelled, and the chant began.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" Ichigo said slowly, as the energy gathered in his palm.

"Hado number 31 shakkahō!" The read ball of energy completely formed, but it compressed for a second. Ichigo was worried it was going to fizzle out, so he tried to add a bit more power. The ball suddenly expanded to three times the size of Kira's and then rocketed off towards the wall, sending Ichigo off his feet, and into Renji.

The rest of the class watched as the colossal red orb flew into the wall, and detonated, causing a loud bang and covering the corner it hit with smoke.

"Ow…" Ichigo mumbled while rubbing his head, and getting off Renji.

"Thanks for the warning, strawberry. Next time you knock yourself on your ass, make sure…I'm…" Renji said, trailing off as he looked back up to the wall.

The entire class was silent in awe of the destruction that Ichigo had made. Unlike Kira's, which burnt the wall behind the target, Ichigo's shakkahō destroyed the corner that it had connected with.

The rest of the wall near the explosion was burnt black, and the remains of the brick were scattered behind it, all blackened and smoking.

"…Well done Kurosaki, though next time you should use a little less power," The instructor said.

Ichigo only nodded and walked to the back, avoiding looking at the rest of the class. He ended up stopping next to Rukia, and sitting in an attempt to hide behind her. He wasn't as successful as he was hoping.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ichigo said as she stared down at him.

"Oh, you will eventually," Rukia said back.

The rest of the class was focused back to their task, though the awe of what had happened minutes ago was still there.

"Last group, you know what to do. Mark!"

Renji, who was up now, in an attempt to perform as well as his best friend, skipped the incantation.

"Hado number 31, shakkahō!" he yelled.

Unlike any of the others in his line, Renji did not even produce a ball of energy. He did, however, produce a bang.

The loud bang surprised everyone, and the smoke that was produced obscured Renji from everyone.

As it cleared, and the other students stood back up from the bang, Renji could be seen.

Renji, now burnt all over his body, only coughed up some smoke, which caused his close "friends" to laugh at him.

"Abarai, extra lessons after class," The instructor said.

Renji only nodded and let out a few tears.

"Way to go Renji! I bet the kido corps will be waiting for you after graduation!" Rukia joked.

Poor Renji.

After that, the class ended, and everyone but Renji went to eat.

At lunch, Rukia began her interrogation.

"You have some explaining to do Ichigo. How did you make that shakkahō so large?" Rukia demanded.

"I don't know." Ichigo said calmly.

"The hell you don't, what did you do?" Rukia demanded again.

"I really don't know, I thought the ball was going to fizzle out, so I added a bit more energy to it," Ichigo explained.

"That looked like a little more than a bit," Kira added.

"It is a relative term I guess," Ichigo said, causing Kira to nod in understanding.

Looking between the two, Rukia's anger was slowly rising.

"Relative he says," Rukia ground out, "Care to be more specific?"

"I don't think I can," Ichigo said apologetically.

Standing up in frustration, Rukia pounded her hands onto the table.

"What are you hiding!?" she yelled, getting everyone's attention.

"Rukia, I don't understand the big deal, he did explain what happened didn't he? What was wrong with his answer?" Kira asked, trying to calm down Rukia.

Sadly, it didn't work.

"The big deal, Kira, is that Ichigo is hiding something, and friends don't keep secrets from one another. You should be mad too!" Turning to face Ichigo, Rukia started again.

"We are friends aren't we? So what is it?"

After a few seconds of a tense silence, Ichigo stood up, and towered over Rukia, who took a slight step back.

Instead of saying anything, Ichigo walked around the table, and grabbed Rukia's arm, and then dragged her out of the room.

"What are you doing?" Rukia asked after he released her, slightly frightened with the lack of verbal response from Ichigo. He seemed angry to her.

Ichigo pulled down his sleeve, to reveal the strip on his wrist.

"This, Rukia, is what I am hiding from you. This is a strap that suppresses my reiatsu so other students can stay conscious around me. I have two, one on each wrist, and I am not allowed to take them off until am far enough away from the academy," Ichigo explained in a hushed voice.

Rukia stared at his wrist as she took in the information.

"I haven't told anyone but you because I do not want them to compare themselves to me, and I really don't want more people watching me. I am content with how things are like, and I want to keep my image were it is for as long as I can," Ichigo continued.

"But why couldn't you tell me or Renji?" Rukia asked softly.

"Mostly because I didn't want Renji to know. He has a respectable amount of reiatsu, more than most people here. I don't want to take that away from him. So if I didn't tell Renji, I thought I shouldn't tell you, to keep things fair. But now you know, and I hope you keep it to yourself," Ichigo ended.

"Fine, but you need to work on keeping the power down, or I wont have to tell someone for them to find out. I am sure Kira is suspicious already," she said, trying to joke to relieve the tense atmosphere.

"Speaking of which, we should head back inside; we wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea," Ichigo hinted.

Rukia blushed and turned towards the door, scoffing, "I could do better."

"Oh? Could you now?" Ichigo asked sarcastically.

Rukia just picked up her pace, ignoring him.

"I didn't think so!" Ichigo yelled out to her.

They entered the cafeteria again, and a few heads turned to see how they turned out, most didn't care.

Renji was back, and laying face down on the table after his extra practice. He was a little more singed than they left him, but it looked like things went okay.

The group returned to their conversation, since Renji was too tired to ask them where they were, and everything went on normally.

For the most part, the following week wasn't very interesting, nobody had kido explode on them, and no one blew up part of a wall. Everything was just normal.

However, a rumor had started to spread, and it wasn't about Ichigo. It seemed that a captain was going to be visiting the academy.

"All right, all right, settle down. Today I wanted to confirm the rumor that has been spreading. There is going to be a captain visiting our Academy in two days. No, I do not know who it is, and no, I do not know if he is going to visit this class. What I do know is that you all will be on your best behavior when the entire academy greets him, understood?" Gengorō gruffly said.

"Hai." Replied the students, some more sincere than others.

"Good, now let's begin the lesson. Last week we talked about the importance of control, today, I am going to explain several ways to increase your control. Some of them work better than others, and some of you may find they don't work at all, but you need to understand them, because that may lead to you finding your own way to control your power."

The class was excited about the visiting captain, since for some of them it would be their first time seeing one. The whole class paid attention, hoping to learn something that would help them stand out in case the captain visited their class.

The excitement continued into the next two days, until the whole school was lined up along the entrance to the academy.

"I'm hot," complained Renji.

"Shut up, he is going to be here soon. Besides, your complaining is giving me a headache," Rukia complained back.

Ichigo sighed. They had been standing along the edges of the pathway to the entrance of the school, along with everyone else in the school, waiting in the son for the captain to arrive.

There had been several rumors about which captain it was, but no teacher would share that information.

"I think I see them," Momo whispered excitedly.

Ichigo had seen Momo standing alone in the crowd of students. He thought she looked uncomfortable standing there alone, so he walked over and his friends followed him. Now there were four kids standing around looking bored and Momo, who was happy to have people around her she knew, and to see someone so high ranking.

Though he didn't show it, Kira was too. However, Ichigo noticed that Kira was oddly quiet around Momo. That, and how he wouldn't make direct eye contact with her, and how Kira looked everywhere else but near her confused Ichigo.

Renji, who despite complaining the entire time, was looking forward to seeing the captain, and was hoping for a chance to show off in front of him.

Rukia and Ichigo were both indifferent to the whole thing. Both wanted the captain to come and leave, preferably without visiting their class.

"Really guys, I see them this time!" Momo said, almost yelling.

Looking down the path, Ichigo was a browned haired man with glasses wearing the captain's haori. Next to him was a silver haired man with a brown badge strapped over the sleeve of his standard shinigami attire.

As they walked closer, Ichigo noticed two things. First, the silver haired man had a near permanent smile on his face, and so far, Ichigo hadn't seen it fall, and the man's eyes were narrowed into slits, as if he were laughing. Overall, Ichigo thought the man looked like a cunning fox.

However, it was the captain that bothered Ichigo the most. On the captain's face was a gentle smile, a stark contrast the to his partners creepy smile. However it was the captain's eyes that bothered Ichigo the most. The smile his face held did not reach them. Instead, Ichigo saw many calculations being done through them as the moved across the crowd. It was as if the man was planning something way beyond Ichigo's understanding.

Then Ichigo blinked, and the look was gone, the captain's smile now reaching his eyes. However, Ichigo could not shake the feeling of foreboding coming from the recent arrivals to the academy.

"Look, it is captain Sosuke Aizen and his lieutenant Ichimaru Gin from squad five!" someone from the crowd shouted as the students began to cheer.

"Captain Aizen," Momo murmured to herself.

"His lieutenant creeps me out," Rukia muttered to Ichigo, who nodded in agreement, though he kept his thoughts about the captain to himself.

"I think the captain looks really friendly!" Momo exclaimed.

"I agree," Kira said, earning him a smile from Momo for his agreement.

"I think I could take them," Renji said confidently, earning him a smack on the head from Rukia.

"Is there anything in that thick head of yours? Idiot," Rukia scolded, "He is a captain for many reasons, one of them being that he could kick your ass any day of the week."

"I thought friends are supposed to support each other," Renji whined.

"Friends stop other friends from saying something incredibly stupid," Ichigo chimed in.

"Whatever," Renji grumbled.

The captain and lieutenant pair walked past the group of five friends, and the student body cheered louder when Aizen waved.

The pair made it into the main building of the academy, and the cheering slowly died down.

"Alright class one, get to class!" Gengorō's voice rang out, causing groans to be heard from several parts of the crowd.

Knowing better than to get to class late, Ichigo and company quickly headed to their classroom.

"I hope I get to see the captain again," Momo said, causing Ichigo to shake his head.

"What?" she asked him.

"Nothing," Ichigo denied, which cause Momo to smile more.

Together, the group walked into the class, all with the desire to improve.

* * *

Another chapter finished. If you wanted to know the part I had mentioned last chapter, it was the kido scene. I giggled to myself much more than I should have when I thought of it.

I do plan on having Ichigo use some kido, if only because I think that would be more interesting to read than just using a sword to hack/slash/stab most enemies. But fret not, I won't do it too often, he will still mainly use his zanpakuto. Speaking of which, I am going to say it now that he will not start out with two swords, but he will get there faster than in canon. I am sorry if that bothers some of you, but I want to go through all of the sword evolutions for Ichigo, and end it with dual wielding ftw fun times.

Again, review and tell me stuff you think could be better, or any questions you have, or to tell me what you want or are looking forward to, I will read them all. I really do enjoy reading what you all write.

Thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope you will come back and read some more.

-Jimba


	10. The Hard Way

**I am just going to start off by apologizing for the delay...again. Hopefully it won't happen too often, I am aiming to finish this story in a year or so. That is the plan, but we shall see how that goes. The next chapter may take a while too, since I will be planning the rest of the story before I start writing that, because winging it like I have so far was fine to get this story out there, but I want as few issues with this bad boy as I can.**

**Speaking of next chapter, I am going to ask for you peoples help, the details will be down at the bottom so I do not spoil anything.**

**The poll has work fantastically, but all good things must come to an end. I have decided what squad Ichigo is going to go to, not that I am telling you guys, and the poll will be closed by the time this goes up, if I am not too lazy. Also, there will be no final vote count here, as I do not want to make you all think the winner of the poll is the squad he is going to. I am a asshole, I know.**

**As always, if you have any questions, pm me and I will answer it either in a pm or here. **

**Also do not forget to favorite follow and review if you feel like it, as it makes me happy, and a happy Jimba writes better, I swear.**

**I do not own Bleach**

* * *

"All right! Listen up!" Gengorō shouted over the hum of excitement from the students.

Today was the day for class one's first trip to the human world. The class was standing around outside waiting for their sixth year escorts to take them through the Senkaimon and into the world of the living.

"I know you are all excited to go to the world of the living, and to hold a sword too, but there of some important things we need to discuss first," Gengorō continued of the hum of the students.

"First, this is a non-combat trip, you are just going to be practicing konsō today, and not fighting the dummy hollow's, you will do that after you have more practice using kido and other combat techniques."

Many of the guy students grumbled at this, and some female, unhappy that they wouldn't be able to test themselves in combat.

Ignoring them, Gengorō continued, "Moan all you want, you aren't ready. However, I don't want to see anyone dueling with these swords. If I see or hear anything about someone swinging a sword at someone else, even as a joke, there will be serious consequences, are we clear?"

The threat from Gengorō was enough to stop any thoughts of dueling form the minds of the students.

"Good. One last thing, in the event of an emergency, you are to follow the directions of the sixth year students. They have more experience than you, so they will know what to do. Good luck out there, and I will see you tomorrow for class."

With that, Gengorō walked off, leaving class one waiting for their escorts. A quiet mummer of talking began as excited conversations about what they were about to do started between students.

"Man, I cant wait to do this, though I wish this was the dummy hollow trip, then I could show everyone how strong I am," Renji stated, causing his friends to roll their eyes.

Ichigo, Rukia, Kira, and Renji were standing together as a group, listening to Renji go on about something, when three sixth year students came up.

"All right, all right, quiet down and listen up," the man in the middle yelled, getting the attention of the class.

Turning to face them, Ichigo saw two guys, one taller than the other, and a short girl with brownish hair. The taller guy had short black hair and was standing to the right of the shorter man.

In the middle was the one who spoke, someone Ichigo could have sworn he knew, but was drawing a blank on. He had spiky black hair that went down to his neck, and a tattoo on the left side of his face.

The class started to whisper amongst themselves at his arrival in particular, but Ichigo just could not remember who he was.

"That's Shūhei Hisagi!" Kira whispered in surprise.

"Who?" Renji asked, getting a shocked look from Kira.

"Shūhei Hisagi, he is a sixth year that has already started to take missions form the Gotei 13. How could you not have heard of him, he is pretty famous?" Kira filled him in, and also reminded Ichigo who the man was.

"That's why I thought I knew who he was," Ichigo exclaimed.

Kira just looked between the two of them in disbelief, while Rukia just shook her head.

"You two never change. Ichigo is still bad with names and Renji is just clueless," Rukia said to herself, but loud enough for them to hear.

"Hey!" the two accused said in unison.

Rukia ignored their outcry and looked back to the year six students.

"First, let us introduce ourselves, I am Shūhei Hisagi, this is Aoga," Hisagi said pointing to the male," and this is Kanisawa," he said pointing to the girl. "Got that? Good, now let's get on with this."

"We will be heading out soon, but first we are going to hand out the papers to everyone. Each of you will get one, and after you do we will explain their purpose," Hisagi explained.

The students of class one stayed quiet as the pieces of paper were handed out.

Upon receiving his, Ichigo turned it over to find an odd drawing of some sort of rabbit head.

"What the hell is this?" he asked aloud.

"This thing is so cute!" Rukia shrieked as she hugged her piece of paper.

"Quiet down!" Hisagi shouted. "Now I can explain what the papers mean. As some of you have noticed there is a picture on one side of your paper. You are going to form groups of three, except there will be one group of two, by finding the people who have the same picture as you. So find your group and we will get going."

The students of class one talked amongst themselves to find the groups. So far, Ichigo hadn't found anyone who had the picture of the rabbit thing.

Renji ended up being with Kira, and after a few minutes of searching for their third member, Momo too.

"I can't find anyone else with this picture," Rukia complained.

"Me either," Ichigo told her before a thought struck him. "What is your picture Rukia?"

"Oh, it is this adorable thing right here!" Rukia chirped as she showed him her picture.

Ichigo stared blankly at her. Their pictures matched.

"Great," Ichigo said with a sigh. "Our pictures match."

"Really? Can I see?"

Turning his paper to face her, Rukia could only smile as Ichigo proved he was correct. Then she snatched the paper out of his hands.

"You don't mind if I take this, right Ichigo?" Rukia asked rhetorically.

"Not in the slightest. It appears we are the pair, I think everyone else is in group of three," Ichigo said as he looked out towards his classmates.

"That's fine by me, I work better with you anyway," Rukia replied.

Before Ichigo could respond with a witty one liner, Renji yelled out to them with a smirk, "Hey, looks like you two are the odd ones out, how does it feel?"

"Better than being in a group with you, idiot," Rukia responded.

Her response stopped him from saying anything else, and caused Momo to giggle.

"Good to see you again Momo, and I apologize in advance for Renji's behavior," Ichigo said as he bowed slightly, getting her to laugh more.

"Some friends you are," Renji mumbled.

Kira looked a bit uncomfortable in the group, and again Ichigo noticed that he was avoiding direct eye contact with Momo.

"It is nice to see you too Ichigo," Momo said back after she stopped giggling. "I can't wait to visit the world of the living. I wonder how different it is going to be from here."

"We are about to find out. Looks like we are heading into the Senkaimon right now," Renji said, having quickly gotten over his friends abuse.

The five quickly moved to the back of the class and followed them into the passage between worlds. The year six students were leading the group of them, and soon enough, they entered the human world.

**The World of the Living**

Stepping through the threshold of the gate between worlds, the five friends looked around in awe.

They saw a completely different world than what they were used to in the Soul Society. The buildings were made of metal, giving the place a different feel from their home.

"I know this is a big change, but we are here for a reason," Hisagi said, cutting into every students thoughts. "We have sectioned off different areas for each group to go to, so find you symbol on this map, and head there. When you arrive, you will find the pluses you need to send to the soul society. When you have finished, you will return here. You have an hour to do this."

The groups approached the map and found their specific location to go to, and then headed off.

"Nice symbol Strawberry," Renji said when he saw the picture Ichigo was given.

"Shut up," Ichigo replied.

"Come on, let's go Ichigo," Rukia told him.

"Come on group Renji, let's head out. We have to beat these two," Renji declared, causing Momo to giggle again.

"Group Renji?" Kira asked quietly.

"Yeah, since I seem to be the only one that can talk to our teammate, I get to be the leader," Renji said, while slapping Kira on the shoulder.

"Good luck you two, and we will see you later," Momo said to Ichigo and Rukia.

"Same to you," Ichigo said back.

The five split up into their groups, and raced to be the first to their area.

"We have to beat Renji," Rukia proclaimed. "I don't think I could stand him actually beating us in something, we would never hear the end of it."

"Fine, fine, I will do my best," Ichigo replied while shaking his head.

The two managed to make it to their area in about ten minutes. It was a large, grey, rectangular building with several windows.

"I guess this is it, let's get inside and konsō some pluses," Ichigo said, getting a sigh from Rukia.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes," she muttered.

Ignoring her, Ichigo moved into the building, then Rukia followed him in.

"Now where do you think they are?" Ichigo asked her.

"I don't know we just walked in."

"That doesn't mean you can't have an idea about it."

"Well, I don't. Do you?"

"As a matter of fact Rukia, I do."

"Then lead on Strawberry."

Once again ignoring her insult, Ichigo walked into a room in the building. Once inside, there were two souls talking to each other.

"…I am just saying, this ware house could be used better. I mean, it has been empty for several months now," one of them said.

"No doubt, but what would you put in it? They haven't been getting any new materials since we left. I think they should tear it down and replace it with something?" the other plus mused.

"Replace it with what, no one ever comes here."

"Um, sorry to interrupt you two, but we are Shinigami tasked with sending your soul to the other side," Ichigo said, breaking the two pluses out of their conversation.

"The other side? That sounds better than sitting here watching this warehouse waste away," the first plus said while the other one nodded in agreement.

"Great, this will just take a second," Ichigo said, while both he and Rukia drew there swords.

"Wait! What are you planning on doing to us?" The plus asked in fear.

This time Rukia replied, saying, "We are about to perform konsō, which requires us to tap your head with the pommel of our sword. It is painless and takes only a few seconds, so you have nothing to worry about."

Ichigo was impressed with Rukia; she had effortlessly calmed the two pluses down.

"Are you two ready?" Ichigo asked.

The two souls nodded and both Ichigo and Rukia stepped forward and gently tapped them and their foreheads with the pommel of their swords.

The pluses turned blue and quickly changed into a small ball, and then they rose swiftly into the sky.

"That was cool," Ichigo said as he continued to stare into the sky.

"Stop wasting time, let's get back before Renji does," Rukia said, turning her back to him.

Ichigo stood there for a brief moment, and then an idea struck him, a somewhat devious idea.

"So you want to get back fast?" he asked.

"Of course, so hurry up!" she demanded.

Rukia suddenly felt herself lifted up by Ichigo, one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back.

"What the hell-" was all she managed to get out before Ichigo rocketed off in the direction of the meet up.

Rukia could only scream as they went racing down the streets faster than she had ever moved before.

They literally came screaming around the corner to the meet up point, surprising the three sixth year students that were milling about waiting for either class one to group up or a report from one of the barrier teams scattered around the practice area.

Coming to a stop, Ichigo placed a now frazzled Rukia on the ground. Her hair was blasted to one side, and when her feet touched the ground, she dropped to her knees.

Taking in a few deep breaths, Rukia composed herself and then started to fix her hair.

Ichigo was just silently watching one of his oldest friends while he was internally laughing.

Then, Rukia rounded on him and kicked his shin.

"What the hell is wrong with you? " she screamed at him.

Ichigo looked up at her and very calmly replied, saying, "You wanted to get back before Renji, so I ran as fast as I could to get back here quickly."

Rukia narrowed her eyes at him, getting frustrated with his laid back attitude. She knew he was messing with her.

"If you don't stop smirking I am going to kick you again."

"Was I? I apologize."

"I hate you right now."

"You wound me. You wanted to beat Renji, and I helped you do that. See, we were the first group back," Ichigo pointed out.

Looking around, Rukia only saw the sixth year students staring back at them in mild amusement at the argument they were having.

Blushing she turned back to Ichigo.

"That doesn't mean we had to rocket over here. How did you even move that fast?" She asked in a hushed voice in order to prevent the other students from hearing them.

"I don't know, I just ran as fast as I could," Ichigo replied honestly.

Shaking her head, Rukia sat back down on the ground next to Ichigo. They waited there for their friends to come back in silence. Slowly the class started to reform, but Renji's group had yet to come back.

Then Ichigo heard Renji laughing about something.

As the group reunited, Rukia was about to boast to Renji about being the first group back, not to mention beating his team, a terrified shriek cut through the air.

"Kanisawa!" Aoga and Hisagi shouted, getting the group of five to turn towards the commotion.

As they did, they saw the older student's body flying through the air with blood flowing freely from her chest. Her body landed with a dull thud some distance away from the group of first years.

Kanisawa never moved after that, proving she meet an unfortunate and early demise.

"You killed her, you bastard!" Aoga roared as he brandished his sword.

For the first time Ichigo saw the thing that had killed Kanisawa: a hollow.

The thing was massive, significantly larger than the hollow he remembered from Inuzuri all those months ago.

The hollow was not just huge; it also had two giant spikes instead of forearms and hands. It was dull green in color and a large hollow mask to match its large body.

"No! Aoga don't!" Hisagi yelled, snapping Ichigo back to reality.

Whether Aoga heard Hisagi was unknown, because the hollow brought down its two sharp spikes onto, and into Aoga.

"Aoga!" Hisagi shouted, before turning to face the younger students. "First years, fall back, get to the secondary safe zone!"

Most of the first years were frozen in fear, for some of them it was their first time seeing a hollow.

"Get the hell out of here!" Hisagi commanded, this time motivating the students to flee.

All but two.

One was Momo, who was rooted to her position and staring at the hollow.

The other was Ichigo, who was flashing back to the hollow attack back in the Rukongai. The screams of the children he was supposed to protect, the fight with the hollow, being knocked through the hideout. All of these memories were going through his head, preventing him from moving.

All the strength he had back then failed him, and that was all he could think about.

"Momo, Ichigo! Come one, let's get away from that thing!" Renji desperately yelled, trying to get them to move.

"But…" Momo started as her eyes flicked between Hisagi and the hollow.

"We can't do anything to help, that thins took out two sixth years!" Renji yelled back.

"But he will die…" She tried again.

"Let's go!" Renji yelled again.

His yelling had snapped Ichigo back to the present.

With a determined look, Ichigo stepped forwards, towards where Hisagi was trying to hold off the hollow while yelling into his microphone.

"What are you doing?" Rukia cried, noticing Ichigo was heading towards danger.

"Not again…" Ichigo mumbled.

Momo barely heard him, but it did catch her attention.

"I'm helping him," Ichigo stated, far calmer than anyone else in his position should have been.

"What!?" Renji and Rukia yelled together.

"I am going to help him. I can help, so I will. It's that simple," Ichigo said as if it were obvious.

"That's crazy!" Rukia yelled at him.

Ignoring her, Ichigo continued on, getting ready to sprit towards Hisagi.

"Me too," Momo stated, gripping her sword for confidence, then followed after Ichigo.

The three remaining friends looked at each other, and then ran after their friends.

Ichigo looked to Hisagi, only to see him down on a knee with blood pouring from three vertical scratches down the side of his face.

The hollow raised one of its spikes to its face, and then the spike split apart into a fan of blades. Brandishing them, the hollow raised its arm slowly, as if it took joy in drawing out Hisagi's pain.

Urgently looking back at Renji, Ichigo sent him a silent message.

The two sprinted off, making it just in time to block the blades from claiming a third known victim.

"You all…" Hisagi said as he caught his breath. The rest of the five caught up as Renji turned back and smirked.

_"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! _Hado number 31 Shakkahō!" Rukia, Kira, and Momo shouted.

The red orb formed and then blasted towards the hollow, hitting it directly and obscuring it with smoke.

"Nice shot guts!" Renji said as he felt the hollow's pressure on his blade release.

His celebration was cut short when the hollow roared in anger and swiped the smoke out of its face with a spike.

"Move! Head down there!" Hisagi yelled, directing them towards an alleyway away from the hollow.

Together the group of six retreated to what they hoped was safety.

"Where did that thing come from?" Renji asked.

"I don't know, the barrier team isn't responding," Hisagi explained. "Right now we need to focus on surviving, hopefully reinforcements are on the way.

Breaking through the threshold of the alley, the group took a break, thinking they had escaped the monstrous hollow.

Unfortunately, half a dozen large hollows suddenly surrounded them.

"Damn!" Ichigo growled out as the group of Shinigami in training went back to back.

They we all at different levels of fear. Renji and Momo were scared stiff, unable to even shake to show their terror. Rukia was trembling ever so slightly as her eyes quickly shifted between the hollows like a cornered animal.

Kira was the most vocal, wailing, "I don't want to die."

Ichigo, however, was doing none of these. He was scared to be sure, be his mind was too occupied with trying to figure a way out to be frozen in terror.

Maybe he could rip off the restricting bands then run? Would the hollows follow him or stay and go after his friends instead? Maybe a full power Shakkahō would take out one, but what would the other hollows do, and would his friends get away unscathed from the explosion? No, both were too risky and had too many unknowns.

The hollows were still closing in, and Ichigo was no closer to a solution to get the others free.

Then the original dull green hollow raised one of its spike-like arms and, fanning it out one again into the fan of blades.

Ichigo kept his eyes open as his world slowed down when the hollow began to bring its deadly arm down.

Then suddenly a small blade cut through the forehead of the hollow, killing in instantly.

The blade somehow continued on its journey, impaling the hollow that was directly behind Ichigo, taking that one down as well.

A blast of blue light wiped out two more of the hollows, and the extremely long blade rotated then decapitated the remaining hollows.

"You did call for reinforcements, correct?" a smooth voice questioned from behind Ichigo.

"Captain Aizen!" Hisagi exclaimed in relief, knowing that he and the group of first years were now safe.

The brown haired man walked up to the group with a small smile, with his smiling lieutenant following him form behind.

The relief of the group of students could be felt as the two men got closer, and the Captain stretched out his hand and placed it on Momo's head.

"You did well to survive this long, we can take it from here," he said as he offered the group a smile.

"This should be fun," Gin said from beside him as he pulled out his wakizashi.

"Shoot to Kill," he muttered, as his blade shimmered then quickly extended far beyond what was normal, impaling several hollows at once.

"Damn, so this is the power of a lieutenant. We couldn't even scratch one of these things, and he has taken out half a dozen without even trying," Renji said in awe.

Ichigo could only nod in agreement, and as he did he promised himself that he would get stronger to protect his friends.

The group of students watch in silence as the two men dispatched the hollows with ease.

Aizen walked back with a small smile after they were finished.

"Please head back through the Senkaimon. Your classmates have already been evacuated back. I am sure they will be happy to see you all safe," the man said calmly.

Ichigo couldn't help but agree, but as he turned away from the man, he though he saw a change in the look of the Captain's eyes. They looked like they day the first day Ichigo saw him, like they were calculating something.

However, when he turned back, Aizen had also turned around, so Ichigo wasn't sure if he was just seeing things.

Hisagi opened the gate between worlds, and the all walked through with a healthy new fear of hollows and an even greater respect for the officers in the Gotei 13.

The day ended in a comparatively boring way. Ichigo all but collapsed onto his bed, falling into a dreamless sleep almost instantly.

The next afternoon, the five young students were eating together and talking about their experience yesterday.

"…and then Renji tripped down the stairs," Kira ended his story, as three of his friends laughed, and one sulked.

"I thought we agreed not to tell Rukia about that," Renji whined, causing more laughter.

"No, Momo said she wouldn't say anything, I made no such promises," Kira clarified.

"Well, we would have figured it out anyway Renji, you guys were the last group back after all, did you think we wouldn't want to know why?" Ichigo asked him as he laughed.

Renji just grumbled in response.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted, getting the table's attention.

"I am looking for a Rukia, is she here?" the man asked seeing he had their attention. He was a portly fellow with fine clothes on and graying hair.

"Can I help you?" Rukia asked, confused about why someone like him was looking for her.

"Ah! You must be her," the man said happily. "I am here to talk to you," the man continued as he looked at her and her friends with a smile. "Alone."

Rukia did not move at first, then she shrugged and nodded, and then started to follow the man down a hallway.

"That was weird," Momo nated.

"Agreed," Kira said, and Ichigo nodded in silent agreement.

Renji, however, just stared at the entrance to the hallway that Rukia and the man went down.

The group of four continued to chat for about thirty minutes, but Rukia had yet to return.

"What could they be talking about?" Renji asked as he stood up. "I am going to find her."

Ichigo stared up at him for a moment before standing up with him.

"Okay, let's go," he said, and then he turned to the other two, "you two have fun without us, and we will see you later."

Momo and Kira waved goodbye and got ready to leave themselves as Ichigo and Renji walked into the hallway that Rukia had.

As they were walking through, they heard mumbled conversation in a room to the left of them.

Turning towards the room, the two boys were greeted by the sight of the first man talking to Rukia, and a man quietly standing there watching them. Rukia appeared to be listening to the portly man about something.

The quiet man caught both Ichigo's and Renji's attention. Not so much by he lack of talking but his attire. He was wearing a captain's haori, signifying his rank in the Gotei 13.

"It appears we are out of time," the portly man said, noticing the two students in the threshold of the doorway. He turned back to Rukia and ended with, "Please give us an answer soon."

The two adults walked out of the room, brushing past Ichigo and Renji. As the captain went by, Ichigo felt a pressure settle over him.

The captain glanced over at the two, and his gaze seemed to linger on Ichigo as Ichigo stared back at him.

A curious look went though the eyes of the captain for a brief moment, and then he continued on his way.

"Wow, what power, I couldn't breath for a second," Renji gasped out.

Ichigo ignored him though, and walked towards Rukia as she looked down at the floor.

"Rukia what did they want? Is everything Ok?" he asked.

Rukia looked up to her two old friends and then looked away.

"Rukia, what is it?" Renji tried.

Taking one more moment, Rukia took a deep breath, and then said the words neither of her friends would forget.

"They want to adopt me into the Kuchiki clan."

* * *

**And if it wasn't clear before, I am an asshole. I do apologize for the cliffhanger here, but I didn't want to go too long, and yet I really wanted to end with Rukia being asked to join the Kuchiki clan. Also I get my kicks this way. In any event, I promise not to have too many cliff hangers, I wouldn't want you all to start suspecting them, would I? **

**On to the more important stuff. As I said up at the top, I am requesting help from you all for the next chapter. I need something for Ichigo, Momo, Renji, and Kira to do when Rukia leaves. I am already thinking about having them meet a certain white haired shorty, so one or too ideas would be great. Do not feel pressured though, I can figure something out by myself, but I wanted to get more involvement with you fantastic people out there. Also I am lazy.**

**That is all. Until next time**

**-Jimba**


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